


Orbit My Heart

by wekingsandprettythings



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Space, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Eventual Happy Ending, Falling In Love, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Getting to Know Each Other, M/M, Minor Character Death, NASA, Phan Fluff, Phan Smut, Phanfiction, Strangers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-25
Updated: 2017-05-30
Packaged: 2018-10-23 23:16:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 27,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10729314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wekingsandprettythings/pseuds/wekingsandprettythings
Summary: Phil Lester has always had an obsession with space. From a young age he loved looking at stars and imagining what life would be like outside of his plant. Now at age 27, accompanied by a PhD in Astrophysics, Phil's dream is to find life on Jupiter's moon Europa. With some special help from Dan Howell, the best Computer Science Engineer NASA has ever seen, will Phil find what he's looking for in both space and in his heart?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So I've been working on this for a while and I ABSOLUTELY love it!! It was getting really long and I was getting impatient to share it with everyone so I've decided to make it into a chaptered fic, I hope everyone enjoys it!

Phil’s mom always called him a night owl. He loved to stay up at night, looking at the stars and wondering how they got there, he liked to imagine that they were all suns for their own little bunch of plants. That every star had a story and sometimes he tried to create them himself.

He’d sit with his mom on nights she couldn’t get him to go to bed and explain it all. “See that one mom?” he’d point out the window and she’d nod. “That one is called Sterek and he looks after the other 4 stars there, he’s their cool big brother like Martyn is to me.” She was amazed by his little 8 year old brain.

With his idea of every star being a sun surrounded by planets he imagined all the possibilities of worlds like and unlike his own. He was 13 when he learned that the universe was endless, and there are most likely stars that go on past what he could see from his bedroom window.

His mom thought it was cute, she bought him books on stars and the sky and she provided him with National Geographic magazines dedicated to searching beyond his planet. She even bought him a telescope so that he could see everything in the night sky that he was so fascinated by. She was his biggest encouragement, but eventually he stopped telling other people the stories of the stars and wrote it down for only himself to remember.

Every night was the same thing, he’d stay up till the early hours of the morning, he mapped out the stars he could see, connected the constellations and pondered what they were like, what their planets could be like, and how the people that were most likely out there would be.

He memorised the Big Dipper, Orion, Cassiopeia and the different planets he could see. His favorite was Jupiter. She was beautiful, she had a green tint to her, she was bigger than the rest, and she was absolutely amazing. The coolest part about Jupiter was all the moons that surrounded her. Lo, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. And when he could see her at night, those were the best nights.

People thought he was crazy. “Little Philly from Rochester wants to be an astrophysicist and work for NASA, that boy has big dreams” they’d say, but little did they know that with a dream and determination little Philly could one day reach the stars like he always wanted.

Becoming an astrophysicist included a lot of hard work. Phil had to have high grades in math and sciences, which meant countless nights studying and learning and discussing things with his teachers, but he was an amazing student. He joined the mathletes and could solve any problem in the blink of an eye.

His parents bought him a computer, which he spent most his time on learning about advanced physics, calculus and astronomy. All of which came in handy when he entered his AS classes. He ended up being top of his class and one of the most respected students. Not only was he smart, but Phil Lester was the kindest soul his school had ever been blessed with.

Phil’s teachers reached out to the biggest universities in the world, telling them about how amazing their student was. Schools like MIT and Caltech were extremely interested in him. His average was a 4.26, and they imagined his SAT scores could be among the best they’ve ever seen, and sure enough they were.

Phil passed the SAT’s with a 1592 and with the average for Caltech students being 1560, they were more than amazed. Phil was a genius and everyone wanted him.

University was some of the best years of Phil’s life. He went to Caltech on a scholarship, did 4 years for his Bachelors in Astrophysics and then moved on to a 5 year doctorate course. In the summer months he did research papers, he studied the stars, he mapped them out, and he was even able to even have an internship at NASA to find some new ones.

He was respected by his peers and professors, some looked up to him as if he was the new Stephen Hawking, but he was nowhere near that. He prided himself on his knowledge and his ability to understand things, but his dream was to one day find new life, and he wouldn’t be the genius everyone thought he was until he did.

When he was 27 he got a job at NASA. Nothing made him happier than the day he logged into his Facebook and changed his career from “Aspiring Astrophysicist” to “Astrophysicist at NASA” and seeing all the comments of people who once questioned his dream congratulating him.

When Phil had his interview they had already read all his papers, they had known him from his internships and he was basically a shoe in for the job. Because they knew all this already, they ended up asking him what he wanted to bring to NASA and how he could change history.

“I want to find life outside of earth. I know it’s out there.” Phil said.

“Yes, but how is the question?” The interviewer asked.

“Jupiter’s second moon, Europa, is covered in a thick layer of ice. I would like to somehow get under the ice and see if there is water, and if there is water is it like ours? Could it sustain life and is there already life under the ice?” Phil said without skipping a beat. This thought had been on his mind for years.

“Well Dr. Lester, I think we have just the spot for you.”

-

Getting the proposal for this mission would be the hardest part for Phil. He had been studying Europa since he was 13. He has been watching NASA conferences and reading journals and studies about it for years. He has a whole hard drive compiled with facts, information and photographs of the moon, he was well prepared. But he needed real proof that life is out there, not just childish ideas that he has had for 10 years.

The first thing he wanted to do was to access the footage from the satellite that was currently orbiting Jupiter because he wanted up to date photos of the surface. It was white and ice covered with a slightly blue tint to it which is what led Phil to believe it was filled with flowing water. On the surface of the moon it was covered in an intricate design of reddish-brown lines and patches of an unknown origin.

His proposal included that the lines could most likely be caused from erosion due to sodium chloride in the water that has made its way to the surface. To prove his theory he was granted access to a vacuum chamber, placed a large sphere of ice inside it, chilled the chamber to minus 270 degrees Fahrenheit, and blasted it with samples of sodium chloride electrons. The electrons left lines on the surface, and his next step would be to add radiation to the chamber to simulate years and years of space exposure.

His theory was correct. The sphere was now covered in reddish-brown lines, providing him with the high probability of salt water being under the moon’s ice surface. He was ecstatic, salt water meant that there was a chance of life on the moon, and if there wasn’t already life then life could most likely sustain living there.

The rest of his proposal consisted of how he was going to firstly get a robot there and secondly how the heck was a robot going to be able to get under the surface to obtain the samples needed to prove that life outside of earth was possible.

He was an astrophysicist. He knew how he would successfully get a rocket from Earth to space, and he knew how long it would take to get there, and how long it would take to get home. However, he didn’t know how to design anything that would be able to do just that.

The first parts of his proposal had already cost NASA a great sum of money and almost 3 months’ worth of Phil’s time. Everything had worked out, he had a plan with scientific proof and NASA was beyond proud with the new knowledge Phil was bringing to them, surely they wouldn’t mind if he asked to have help from a Computer Science Engineer.

60% of NASA’s workers are engineers, giving one to Phil so he could poke their brain and get the answers he craved wouldn’t be too much of a stretch.

With the permission from his supervisor Phil was allowed to interview a handful of computer engineers until he found one that was the best for the job. He needed someone who would be dedicated to helping him get to Europa, someone who was willing to spend late nights making plans and prints and tests, and someone who understood all the different components that would need to go into this robot.

His first candidate was called Frank Cellante. Frank was 36, a regular engineer, balding, and a father of 4. He was smart, he understood the type of robot that was needed but he was not willing to spend hours on end in the lab creating prototypes for Phil. He was crossed off the list.

Nevil Berne was a highly recommended Computer Engineer who went to Virginia Tech. He was newly 30, no family ties, was more than willing to spend time with Phil, flirted with him a little too much and was very skilled in creating a robot that could be useful on Europa. Phil was so close to accepting him before he said, “But I don’t know why you want to go to Europa of all places? I mean, Jupiter is the least interesting planet in my opinion.” It was an instant no from Phil.

And then there was Ted Feltner, another plain old engineer. He had no clue what Phil really wanted, he said he liked his sleep so he probably wouldn’t be available between midnight and 10am, and wasn’t interested in making multiple prototypes, he only wanted to make one and send it.

Phil was pissed. This mission was his baby, he had been craving to find life and explore the universe ever since he could ask what the stars were.

His last interviewee was with the only Computer Science Engineer who applied, which meant he had a better understanding of algorithms and design. Hopefully that also meant he was better at understanding how Phil wanted the robot to look, act and move and he hoped even more that he was able to get those things Phil wanted to work.

Dan Howell, age 23, no family, no relationship, liked to work late and was dedicated to his craft. Also British, also a genius. He looked like a good option.

Dan was the only one who actually read the beginning of the proposal. He understood what the planet looked and acted like and why Phil wanted to get to it. He understood that he would need to get below the ice but neither of them knew how deep the ice was, and he also knew that he needed to be able to obtain samples once they got to the water.

“So how do you think you could do it?” Phil asked, for the 4th time, only this time he was excited to hear the answer.

The man sat in his chair, one leg crossed over the other and a clipboard of ideas resting on them. He wore black jeans and a light blue button up, his hair was a lovely dark brown that matched his eyes. He looked really young.

“I have two ideas of how you can get under the ice surface. Either I can make a robot that can drill down, then it can just pull samples up through the hole.” He suggests, looking down at his clipboard. “Or a harder option would be to make the robot be able to drill down and act as a submarine.”

“Okay,” Phil said. “How is that the harder option? To me it sounds like a good idea.”

“The hard part about that would be gathering the samples and not wanting to get water in the crucial parts of the bot causing a malfunction and ruining it. I was thinking we could make the sample pod like the hatch on the ISS.” He explains everything with his hands, and he doesn’t make eye contact very often.

“You’ll have to explain that to me more.” Phil doesn’t know how anything works on the space station, seeing as it’s not his area of expertise.

“On the ISS they have a hatch in which people can leave or enter to do their space walks and examine the station.” He began, dumbing it down for Phil. Who nods to let Dan know he’s following.

“When they reenter the hatch and it closes, it then vacuum seals the room so that they can then fill it with oxygen before allowing them to enter the rest of the station. And the seal also works for when they are leaving so that the air isn’t sucked out of the whole station killing everyone.

“We could make a hatch on the robot that can open for the samples to be placed in and allow water to flow in and out of it. But it will be sealed in such a way that the water won’t get into the rest of the bot. Then once the bot reaches the surface once more the excess water can be let go, the seal can vacuum and fully closed and the mission will be over.”

Phil’s jaw almost hits the floor. He would have never thought of that in a million years. “Yes, that is exactly what I want!” Phil shouts. “You’ve really thought this through.”

“Well yeah, when they told me Dr. Phil Lester wanted help making a robot that could find water on another planet and change history I wanted to have my shit together before I met you.” He finally looked Phil in the eyes.

Phil was flattered, a lot of people looked up to him and it always made him feel good. “Well I have another question for you Mr. Howell.”

“First off, call me Dan, and second, ask away.” When he smiled there was a dimple that looked like the crater on the moon on his left cheek.

“When can you start?” Phil asked.

“Right now.” Dan answered before getting up to shake Phil’s hand.

-

Dan and Phil stayed at work that night till 3am finalising the proposal. Phil made sure his work was correct before adding Dan’s ideas. The final proposal ended up being 20 pages long, full of ideas, facts, hopes and dreams. Phil couldn’t have been more excited to finally submit it Ted Sanders, the director of NASA, for approval.

“And now we wait.” Dan said as Phil hit send.

“Yep.” Phil said. He was always bad at small talk.

“You know,” Dan started, “If they approve this you could be the youngest person at NASA to run an exploratory mission of this size.”

“Really?” Phil asked, I bit surprised, “I’m only 27.”

“The youngest person to run a mission was Susan Kapoor in 1996. She was 32. Her mission actually was the mission to get a satellite to Jupiter to take photos, and you actually used it for your proposal.” Dan said, he didn’t skip a beat. He pulled all that information out from the back of his head.

“Wow. How do you know all that?”

“I spent a lot of my time as a teenager online learning facts about NASA because I always wanted to be here.” he says. A huge smile takes over his face as he looks around in awe. Even though Phil’s office wasn’t something to be proud of.

“Well, thank you for letting me know.” With that Phil stood up to grab his coat, “it’ll be a while before we know what they say. Meet me here tomorrow at 10am?”

Dan stood up too, nodded and replied, “Of course. Have a good night Phil.”

“You too.”

-

That night Phil laid in his bed and looked out the massive window to his right. Huston was the perfect place to stargaze, it was hardly ever cloudy and there wasn't a lot of city lights to drain the ambience of the stars.

He was hopeful that his proposal would go through. That all his and now Dan's hard work would pay off and change the course of history.

Dan was nice and kind, unlike any of the other people he interviewed. And Phil never imagined he'd be able to finish his proposal as fast as he did. Dan was incredibility smart and extremely nice. Working with him would be a good thing.

If Phil was going to be in charge of all the people required to make this mission a success he wanted Dan to be the head of his engineering team. Dan knew what Phil wanted before Phil even knew. His ideas were well thought out and far more creative than anything he'd ever seen.

To think that two geniuses from England would somehow meet in Houston Texas and have the possibility of changing the world together was again far beyond anything Phil could imagine. And he'd imagined a lot in his time.

-

Phil woke up at 8am, his alarm playing the theme song from Game of Thrones and his room illuminated in an orange tint from the early morning Houston sun. He rolled over to check his phone and saw that he had an email notification from the director of NASA. ‘That was fast’, he thought. 

He's a bit sceptical to open it. But he does it anyway.Tapping on the email, he takes a deep breath and begins to read.

 

‘Congratulations Dr. Lester and Mr. Howell, Your proposal for finding a sustainable future on Europa has been approved and we are pleased to have your help in shaping history!  
NASA has agreed upon a spending cap of $2 billion and a 48 person crew.  
Please come speak with me at 11am today to further discuss the mission.’

 

Phil can hardly breathe. He's hanging slightly on the edge of the bed with his mouth wide open and not a single coherent thought in his head. This was amazing. His mother is going to cry when she finds out, and he's probably going to cry soon due to pure excitement and disbelief.

“TWO BILLION DOLLARS?!” he yells at the top of his voice, in his 1 bedroom apartment, to himself before dropping his phone and crashing back onto the bed. He waves his feet in the air under the covers and buried his face in his hands.

-

It’s not the first time he’s met the boss, he was his assistant for a little while during an internship, he taught Phil all about NASA and ran him through every little thing they did. But this time was different, Phil was being briefed on being the director of his own exploratory mission. That was crazy to him, so he took more time than usual getting ready for the meeting.

His pitch black hair was nicely coiffed out of his face, his glasses were cleaner than they have ever been in his life, and the shirt he was wearing had never been this perfectly ironed before. There wasn’t a single crease. “This shirt is straighter than I am” he said to himself with a giggle.

He was always very concerned with how he looked, mainly because he was a popular kid at school and also because he wanted to impress people. He was smart enough that people respected him a lot but he wanted to be considered attractive, not just intelligent.

That’s when he started dying his hair and wearing contacts, buying really cool shirts and trying too hard. No one seemed to care, and that sucked. He tried and tried to get a girlfriend or a boyfriend in school but people were scared off by his big brain and his imagination. More than once he got the line, “you’re cute but we’re not compatible.”

His mom told him time and time again that one day when he'd have his big NASA job all the people who turned him down would be mad at themselves. That one day Phil would be even more handsome, he’s be even smarter and he’d be making good money. Anyone who thought he wasn’t worth it was stupid.

That helped him through it. With his big imagination he thought that one day he’d meet someone at NASA and together they would be completely in love and the best power couple anyone had ever seen. He just hadn’t met anyone there that he liked yet.

“Morning Dr. Lester.” The receptionist said as Phil walked in the building.

“Good morning Cara, how are the kids?” Phil asked, he had gotten to know her quite well on his internships in the past.

“Really good, Charlie asked me to say hi to his favorite scientist.” She smiled at him. One time she had to bring her son Charlie into work because his nanny was busy, so Phil stepped up and took him in as his assistant for the day.

That always warmed Phil’s heart, little kids with dreams of working at NASA just like him were the best thing. “Tell him I’m really good and I hope he’s well, but I have a meeting now so have a good rest of your day.” Phil waved and walked towards the elevator.

He was scared shitless for his meeting. He typically wasn’t an anxious person when it came to business, it was more in crowds and awkward situations, but for some reason the fact that he didn’t know what to expect in this meeting was setting him off.

He went to his office, placed his briefcase on the floor and slumped into his leather chair. His office was big enough to house his desktop computer with enough room for another if need be, as well as a big meeting table. It wasn’t extravagant but he liked it.

His meeting was in 20 minutes so he had some time to chill the heck down before he went in. He stared out his big windows into the courtyard, which overlooked the lab buildings, he placed his elbows on the table and his hands on his temples and told himself to breathe. 

“Knock, knock” Dan said while simultaneously knocking on Phil’s open door.

Phil looked up and smiled, “Good morning partner.”

“Good bloody morning!” Dan was chipper in the morning. “Can you believe you got approved so fast? I can because everyone loves you and you bloody deserve it!” he kept getting louder as his compliments went on.

“Thank you, and it was OUR proposal. I wouldn’t have been able to send it in if it wasn’t for you.” Which was true, Phil had the basics of what he wanted but Dan’s ideas were what took it off the ground for him.

“It’s always been a dream of mine to work with you.” Dan said with a blush as he sat in the other leather chair in Phil’s office.

“It absolutely floors me to think people look up to me.” Phil shook his head, he always has trouble wrapping his head around that concept.

“I was fifteen when you got accepted to Caltech, it was also around the time I got accepted to MIT. Which was cool.” Dan fiddled with his thumbs while he talked, he was quite shy.

It took Phil a moment to process that Dan was accepted at age 15. “Fifteen?”

“Yeah, that’s why I’m 23 and working at NASA with a masters in Computer Science Engineering.” He’s also sarcastic.

“Holy shit. What were your SAT scores like?” Phil asks, thinking if he was 15 then he must be some sort of crazy genius.

“Sixteen hundred.” He says, flat faced and un-bothered by the fact that 1600 is the highest score one can get on the new SAT’s. Phil’s mouth hung open a little.

“And you looked up to me? I’m flattered.” Phil turns a cute shade of pink and touches his hand to his heart.

“Well yeah, you are really smart and you came from a small town like I did and it was really nice to see someone go as far as you did. And I wanted to follow in someone's amazing footsteps.”

“Well look at us now! Two kids from England running an exploratory mission to find life on another planet!” they both laughed.

When they calmed down, Phil stood up and straightened his shirt even more and made his way to the door, “let’s go see what cool things we get to do.”

The sight of the two of them walking down the hall made some people’s heads turn. They were both over 6 feet, they had matching haircuts going in different directions and 2 very wide smiles. They felt on top of the world.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the reaction to chapter one has been amazing and i'm so happy everyone likes this!! thank you all so much <3

The Director is already in his office waiting for them when they arrive. He’s waiting with a beautiful blond woman, they both stand when Dan and Phil enter.

“Dr. Lester, Mr. Howell. Congratulations on your proposal.” He says before shaking their hands.

“Thank you, Sir.” They reply in unison.

“This is Louise Pentland,” He gestures over to the woman. “She will be the project manager and my eyes and ears on the floor. Phil you have full control I just need someone to keep you organized and me updated.”

“Alrighty, it’s nice to meet you.” Phil says and nods in her direction.

“You as well.” She’s also British. How did he manage to move to Texas and still be surrounded by British people?

“I only had one problem with your proposal.” He states, and Phil clenches his ass and holds his breath. Scared to death. “I was wondering how you planned on controlling the robot after it lands on Europa?”

Before Phil has a chance to think Dan has the answer. “It’s simple really, the satellites Adrastea and Metis are currently orbiting Jupiter and if I add a simple 20 character code to the software I will have a stronger connection to the bot once it reaches Europa.”

Phil can’t grasp the fact that this kids has looked up to him for years and is widely smarter than himself. Never could Phil have thought that on the spot, it would have taken 3 months of research before an answer like that came from him.

Phil chuckles and smiles, “I picked a very smart partner.”

“That you did.” Louise chimes in. “It seems like you boys have some work to do.”

-

“I want to get to know you.”

It's 9pm, and he and Dan have been in his office working on plans and going over their ideas for hours.

“What?” Dan drops his pen and looks at Phil with a surprised face.

“We’re going to be spending a lot of time together and I’d like to know you as much as you know me.” If Dan’s looked up to him for this long surely he knows all of Phil’s achievements and life story.

“Oh, sure.” He huffs and looks down. “I’m not very interesting.”

“Everyone’s interesting in their own special way.” Phil encourages him.

To which Dan smiles, and it makes Phil’s heart happy. “I um, I don’t know where to start. Give me some examples?”

“Where are you from? What’s your favorite dog breed? What makes you happy? Last film that made you cry? Those sort of things. It’ll help me know your personality.” Phil scoots his chair closer to Dan and sets his head upon his hand which is resting comfortably on the arm of the chair.

“I was born in Berkshire, I love Corgis and Shiba Inu’s.” He takes a breath to ponder the next question. “Learning new things makes me happy. I’m always researching things and that's how I know so much. And the last movie to make me cry was The Imitation Game.”

“Oh gosh I know!” Phil says dramatically. “I cannot believe that he practically saved the world and because he couldn’t tell anyone that he was treated so terribly for being gay.”

“It breaks my heart to think that I could have been treated like that back then. Thank god the times have changed a bit.” Dan agrees while subtly letting Phil know he’s also gay.

“So your-”

“Gay. Yep.” Dan interrupted him. “I hope that’s not a problem.” He gets defensive.

“No, no, no. it’s no problem” Phil says, waving his hands dramatically in an anxious attempt to make sure Dan knows he’s more than fine with it. “I also like men, and woman, and people. So you’re completely safe with me.”

“Thank you. Some of the guys I went to school with and worked with didn’t treat me well so I’m sorry if I come off defensive.” He half smiles.

‘I want you to be safe with me’, Phil thinks. This Dan guy is nice and cute and super intellectual, and they are going to change history together.

-

For the next few days Phil has to interview as many people as he can for the 48 jobs available. He let Dan interview the people working in engineering while he strictly does the scientific research side of the team.

One of the people he takes onto the team is a Man named PJ Liguori who is going to be his Gravity Science lead. PJ’s job will be to study what the moon’s surface will be like and help Dan’s team create something that will be able to move there.

His team is assembled by the end of the week while Dan still needs a handful of engineers to add to his side. He slumps into the chair in Phil’s office around 11pm on a Friday making huff and expressing every ounce of exhaustion Phil is feeling.

“Want to get coffee and talk about everything?” Phil asks.

“Yes. If I can move. I just got so comfortable.” His eyes are closed and he doesn’t show any signs of moving. He comes into the office and does the same thing in that chair every day, no wonder it didn’t take long for him to get comfortable.

“Come on” Phil pokes his cheek until Dan smiles and his finger ends up pressed into his dimple, causing Dan to laugh.

NASA has its own 24 hour Starbucks built in for the people who work all hours of the day. The only real action the workers see are from interns and assistants, no one really has the time to get their own coffee.

“Coffee, milk and 2 sugar.” Phil says before looking at Dan. “My treat, what would you like?”  
“Oh, um. An English breakfast tea 2 milk 2 sugar. I kinda miss home today.” Dan says with a half-smile.

Phil pays the lady and they move to the end of the counter to wait. “I know how you feel, by the way. How long has it been since you’ve been home?”

“Like five years or something.” Dan replies, not a care in his voice.

“Oh gosh, why so long?” Phil’s genuine shock is seen in both his tone and facial expression.

“Like I said in my resume, no family ties.” Again he replied completely unfazed.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. How often do you go home?” Dan asks, changing the subject to a happier one.

“I used to only for Christmas break but now I go back every 6 months.” Or else his mother would absolutely lose it. But Dan doesn’t need to know about his crazy mother yet.

“1 coffee and a tea.” The barista said, placing the drinks on the counter and walking away.

“Want to stay here or go back to my office?” Phil asks.

Dan shrugs, “it doesn’t matter to me.”

“Let’s go be comfortable in my office.” Phil suggests and starts to walk forward.

“Your chairs are more comfortable than my bed, if I’m honest.” Dan says, a cheeky grin on his face while he holds in a laugh.

The walk back was simple and quiet. Phil was on his desktop, logging the different people he had hired into the system, making it official. Right now he had 36 people hired. That was 36 people who were helping him change history and he was more than excited.

Every time he entered a new person to the system he smiled, by the 20th person he couldn’t feel his cheeks anymore. Dan was opposite him at the desk, looking at the notes he had taken trying to narrow down the last few people to hire.

Every time Phil smiled, Dan saw it in his peripheral vision and battled with himself to not smile as well. He failed almost every time. It was cute. They were two dorks who were overly proud and excited of what they were achieving and nothing was going to take this happiness from them.

They mainly sit in silence for a few hours until Dan sleepily and very lightly asks, “Do you ever wonder if crabs get jealous of the fish because they can fly?”

Phil laughs and looks at him with a fond look on his face, “Probably. I mean I get mad that I can’t fly like the birds do so it’s highly probable.”

“I wasn’t expecting a serious answer”

“I was expecting a serious question.” Phil sarcastically spits back.

“Shut up.” Dan says in the least aggressive or serious voice Phil has ever heard.

-

“I’m fucked.” Phil exclaims to himself. He went home to get some rest and somehow he has managed to stay up another 2 hours thinking about Dan. A week ago he was thinking about how boring it was being single. He was wishing for someone to wake up next to and spend his time with and now he has a full blown crush on his co-worker.

Phil can’t get the same thoughts from circling over and over again in his head.  
Was it a crush or was he just appreciating how nice it was to have a friend to talk to all day and bounce ideas off of? Why did Dan’s smile and voice make his heart happy and why was his brain suddenly filled with images of Dan’s eyes sparkling while he talked of something he liked or how his hair started to curl more as the day dragged on?

Surely he’d get over it. It wasn’t the first time he’d thought he’d fallen for someone he knew because he was so happy around them. He’s always been the type of guy to crush on his friends, and then watch as nothing happened because no one ever liked him back. He was fine with that.

He pushes the thoughts to the back of his head and closes his eyes. Maybe he’ll get some sleep. But the thoughts don’t diminish, they move into his dreams and suddenly he’s dreaming of him and Dan watching the launch of their rocket, starting its 5 year journey to Europa.

-

It didn’t take long for Dan and his team to create a basic prototype for the bot. they made a basic skeleton of the bot out of plastic to test its movement and compatibility first. It has legs so that it can walk on the ice, instead of wheels that could slip or get stuck in the unpredictable surface.

They were ready to add the outside of the bot when Dan had a problem. 

“The temperature on Europa is supposedly minus two-hundred and seventy degrees Fahrenheit, I don’t think I have a metal or anything that would be durable in that temperature.” He said to Phil. They were in Phil, and now Dan’s office. Sitting quietly going over Dan’s ideas.

“They used a Chromium-Nickel based stainless steel on the Mars rover because it was tough enough in the cold, but Mars is a hundred and ten degrees warmer than Europa.” Phil says, the vein in his head showing as he thinks as hard as he can.

Dan ponders what Phil had said for a few minutes. “If we use a plutonium battery to power it for the 10 years it’s in space it will create a natural heat that could keep the metal at a durable temperature while also not making it too hot.”

“And I was going to ask you about how to battle corrosion from the Sodium Chloride in the water but the stainless steel would also be a good resource for that reason alone.” Phil presses on.

“We’re so fucking smart!” Dan says, lifting his arms up to high five Phil, both of them missing terribly and laughing so hard they can’t feel their faces and their stomach muscles ache.

Once they catch their breath and wipe the tears from their sleep deprived eyes, Phil can’t help but think of how amazing Dan is. “Do you maybe want to go see a movie after work tomorrow?” Phil asks.

“Can we? Do we have the time to do that?” Dan asks in return.

“Well I’m the boss and I say we’ve done enough work in the last month to allow us to have a break.” He smiles over to Dan, who smiles right back.

“Okay, yeah. I’d love to.”


	3. Chapter 3

They agreed to meet at the theater giving each other enough time to come home from work and feel less gross from working in labs all day. More than once Dan had come back to the office at night covered in black oil grease and apologized a million times for looking gross, but Phil thought it was cute.

Everything he did was cute. And this wasn’t just a little friend crush anymore, this was a full blown ‘I’m going to try and make you mine’ crush.

Phil left work a little early to go get his hair touched up and trimmed a little so he would look nice, even though they would be sitting in a dark theater where Dan couldn’t see him. But the thought was there.

He looked good. His hair was perfect, he wore contacts in case they saw a 3D movie, his shirt was a beautiful burgundy button up that brought out the blue in his eyes. He was happy.

He called a cab and not so patiently waited on a bench in the lobby of his apartment building. Shaking his knee rapidly in his anxious haze. He was sitting there for 5 minutes when he felt a light pat on his back.

“I thought we were meeting at the theater.” Dan's soft voice said as Phil turned around.

“Don’t tell me we’ve lived in the same building this whole time?”

Dan laughed, “I guess we have.” He smiled down at Phil and Phil felt his heart beat a little faster in his chest and the butterflies in his stomach flutter a little bit more. “You look very handsome.” He said after a few seconds.

Phil blushed, “Thank you, you do too.”

Dan was in a lovely black button up and jeans, his hair was curly and also freshly cut. He was wearing earrings, which Phil had no idea he did and his nails were a light sparkly color. He looked cute and happy.

“Have you called a cab yet? Cause you’re more than welcome to come with me.” Phil offers.

“I was going to drive over but I think that sounds better.” He says, sitting down beside Phil on the bench.

“Oh, I didn’t know you drove?”

“I turned 16 over here and I got my learners and then my full license, I don’t even know what it’s like to drive in the UK if I’m honest.” Dan replied. It made sense, seeing as he hadn’t been home in 5 years, for him to be so accustomed to things over here.

“That’s awesome.” Was all he could reply, small talk wasn’t his forte.

“Yeah.” Dan’s not so much a small talker either.

The car ride over was just like how they were in the office, quiet and doing their own thing but enjoying being together. After a few minutes Phil got a little bored with the silence. “What are we even going to see?” he asked.

“Interstellar is still playing, I’ve wanted to see it for a few weeks actually.” Dan said quickly as if he had been thinking about it as much as Phil had.

“Is it a bit cliché for 2 NASA employees to go see a movie about space?” Phil said jokingly.

Dan giggled, “at least we'll know what the heck is going on.”

“Very true. I hope it’s accurate though. Nothing pisses me off more than half-assed space movies.” Phil’s genuine concern is displayed in his voice.

“Christopher Nolan actually came to NASA to ask how black holes worked in space as well as getting accurate information on what the suits would look like and how the body would change over time in space so I think it should be good if that much care and consideration went into it.” Dan explains in a way that not only allows Phil to feel better but also excite him.

“I love how bloody smart you are.” Phil says on impulse.

Dan’s cheeks flood with the softest shade of pink, and a darker pink closer to the freckles on his jaw. “Speak for yourself.”

“Sorry to butt in but we’re here” The cab driver interrupted with a strong Texan accent, not fazed by the two clearly gay men flirting in the back of his cab.  
Phil paid while Dan had a sour face about Phil not letting cover half of it. They settled for Dan paying for the ride back.

Then Phil bought both tickets and Dan was about ready to flip. “Seriously let me pay for the popcorn or something!” he said, grabbing Phil’s arm and tugging in an attempt to win him over.

Phil shook his head and kept walking when Dan pulled him into a hug, “please?” he begged.

Phil’s whole mind went blank. Dan was soft, and he smelled like vanilla and he was radiating heat. Phil’s heart almost stopped and his mind was jumbled with thoughts, yet he couldn’t express a single thing. He just hugged back and Dan took it as a yes.

Phil stood behind him in the line while he ordered them 2 popcorn's, 2 cokes and a bag of Hershey’s Cookies n’ Cream Drops for himself. “I like to put it in my popcorn. I’m a weirdo.” He said. But Phil thought it was cute.

The movie was amazing, no one else was in the theater seeing as the movie had been out for a few weeks so the two of them had the best seats in the place and enjoyed some alone time together.

Occasionally Dan would gasp in shock and Phil would make eye contact with him to silently agree on how cool something was, and then they cried at the ending. Phil wasn’t a crier but something about slowly falling in love with someone and watching a movie all about space and love set him off.

Dan tried to be subtle, but he was as subtle as a punch in the face. He started out with little tears and then sobs which eventually turned into breathy gasps and a waterfall of tears. Phil grabbed his hand and held it for the last few minutes of the movie. They didn’t acknowledge it verbally, but Dan ran his thumb over Phil’s knuckles to say thank you when he calmed down a little.

The ride home was nicer than the ride there. They were still in silence but they had big smiles on their faces, their arms were pressed together, and Phil could hear his blood pumping in his ears, he was so nervous. He hoped to god Dan liked him back and this wasn’t just a friendly thing, but he’d never ask for fear he’d lose him as a friend.

Dan paid for the cab like they agreed and Phil waited to walk him to his apartment. “What floor are you on?” he asked Phil.

“Fifteen, you?” Phil’s soft voice and smile showed the genuine happiness that was radiating from his body.

“Twenty-three. I’ll walk you to yours, it's closer.” Dan replied.

Phil so desperately wanted to know what to do in this situation. This was originally a friend date but as the night progressed he felt the mood change. What was he supposed to do when he reached his door? Was he supposed to hug Dan or kiss him on the cheek? He was distressed.

“Here we are.” Phil announced, pressing his lips tightly together afterwards and looking gently at Dan.

Dan looked down at the floor, his hands in his pockets, and kicked one foot forward, quickly he leaned in, “fuck it, I’m just going to do it.” He mumbled and lunged himself at Phil.

Their lips collided, Phil eyes were wide and his body fell stiff in shock. As Dan placed his hands on Phil’s shoulders for balance, Phil was brought down to earth. He closed his eyes grabbed Dan's waist and kissed back lovingly.

Dan pulled away, turned a bright shade of pink and licked his lips. “Thank you.”

Phil stood there stunned for a second and blinking a few times, “yeah, thanks.”

Slowly Dan backed up, smiling as he went, “see you tomorrow.”

A smile crept its way on to Phil’s face, replacing the gobsmacked expression and allowing some color back into his skin, “have a good night.”

Phil didn’t know how to stop smiling. His heart kept fluttering when he thought about Dan, and all he could think about was what he could do next. He wanted to make some big gesture for Dan, he wanted to show him he cared and how much he appreciated him. Not only romantically but because of all the advances Dan was helping the team make for the mission.

So he called his mom, midnight for him was 8am for her and lord knows that she was awake. She was a morning person, which often drove Phil crazy. But he loved her nonetheless.

She picked up the skype call on the third ring, “hello dear.” Her cheerful voice sounded through his phone.

“Hi mum, how’s things?” Phil asked.

For the next half an hour his mother rambled on about life in Manchester, who’s with who, who’s getting divorced, which of his old school friends were having babies and then she brought up the topic of when he planned on setting down.

“That’s actually why I called. You remember I told you about my partner Dan?” Phil asks, and she nodded, “I took him on a date last night, and I really like him.”

His mother’s smile lit up the screen, “I always knew you’d meet a nice person at NASA.”

“I just need some help, I don’t know what to do about letting him know how I feel.”

“Cook him dinner, buy flowers that remind you of him and shower him with compliments, that’s how your father won me over.” That must have been a sight. They were disgustingly in love all Phil’s life and to watch them fall in love would have been something magical.

“But what do I make?”

After a long conversation with his mother over what to make and how to make it he said goodbye and fell asleep, he had a long day coming. A day filled with endless possibilities of how he could ask Dan over for dinner as well as his meeting with Louise and PJ to go over the task of determining Europa’s gravity.

He had an alarm set to wake him up at half 8 but was abruptly awoken to the sound of his phone vibrating on his wooden nightstand moments before said alarm had any chance.

 

From Dan: morning, I’m driving in at 9:30 if you want a ride?

 

Phil lets out a long breath and allows himself to break out into a cheeky grin, he’s not suppressing this crush, and he’s going to embrace it with open arms like Dan did with him last night. That hug and kiss was the best part of his night, his week, heck it was the highlight of his life. He’s never felt this way about anyone before.

 

To Dan: hi :) I’d love that  
From Dan: okay ;)

 

His hair was still okay from last night, his eyes hurt from the contacts so he was back to glasses and he decided on a plain black short sleeve button up. Black was a rare occurrence for him but he was told he looked amazing in it, and he wanted to look good before seeing Dan.

He was worried things would be awkward between them at work, that Dan wouldn’t bring it up but it was just him being anxious over the unknown. So far it didn’t look like Dan was going to avoid anything, he was texting him which was a good sign.

Phil was about to walk out the door when he heard a knock, he stopped in his place and smiled at the door. If that was Dan coming to get him he wasn’t surprised.  
Sure enough, he opened the door to find the beautiful man in his same light blue dress shirt and jeans, no more earrings and his nails were bare, he was back in work mode. But his smile was the same as last night, big and bright and displaying his cute dimple.

“You look handsome, like always.” Dan said

Dan never failed to make his heart flutter and his stomach do this strange flippy over thing, but he was starting to get used to it. “You’re so cute. Thank you.”

“I am not!” he said with a surprised smile that made him look cuter.

Phil stepped out and closed the door behind him, locking it and turning to Dan, gesturing that they go. Dan brushed his arm against Phil as they walked to the elevator which made Phil’s skin feel like it was on fire.

Once they were in the elevator, Phil rested his butt against the wall as the doors were closing and Dan laid a small peck on his cheek once they fully closed. 

“I had a really good time last night. We should do it again.” He said and then slipped his hand into Phil’s.

“I was thinking the same thing, actually.” they smiled at each other for a few seconds, Dan’s brown eyes were dark enough that Phil could see his reflection and he’d never noticed all the small freckles Dan had on his face. 

“Did you want to have dinner with me tonight?” Phil asked, he was going to wait a little but it seemed like a better time now than later.

“I have to test the bot in the temperature control chamber today but if I finish early I’d love to.” Dan said, and this time Phil leaned in and stole a kiss.

“Sounds like a plan.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the next chapter will contain some sexy times so beware when that happen!! thanks for reading and leaving comments it's crazy how much love this is getting. its made me really happy so thank you!!!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beware of some smut, i'm still new to writing it... have fun reading ;)

Once they reached the entrance of NASA Dan poked him in the arm, winked and then made his way to the lab leaving Phil to go do his work. Cara saw and gave a quick smile Phil’s way.

Coming out of the elevator he saw that Louise and Dr. Liguori were in the hallway of his office waiting for him to get there, they were 10 minutes early like always.

For 5 hours Phil and PJ discussed the different types of gravity that could be on Europa based on the facts that they knew. Either it was a magnetic gravity like Jupiter, 0 gravity like on the moon, or the less likely option of it being like Earth's.

In the case of a magnetic gravity Phil suggested that they have Dan demagnetise the bot the way they did for the satellites orbiting Jupiter, this way it won’t affect the bot if it is that type of gravity. And if need be they make it like the moon rover as well to work with any type of gravity thrown at them.

PJ liked his ideas, took them into consideration and said he would give Dan a run through the following day.

Louise stayed behind to catch up with Phil a little. “How are things between you and Dan, by the way?” She asked.

“Uh, good. Why?” This was unlike her to ask something other than mission plans.

“You two seem to spend a lot of time together and I saw you drove in together today.” She said raising one eyebrow suspiciously.

Louise and him had gotten along quite well over the last few weeks of working together. They stayed and talked together when they had nothing to do, and when Dan was busy. He really liked her, she seemed like a good friend. 

“We’re leading a project together and happen to live in the same building.” He exclaimed, voice going up an octave higher than normal. “And it's not your business who I spend my time with. I could ask why you and PJ are always together but I don't.” Phil snaps back, not sure why he got so defensive.

“I'm sorry, I won't bring it up anymore.” she says with a look of concern on her face. “I thought we were close enough to talk about these things.”

Phil let out a long sigh, knowing he was being an ass but not knowing where his sudden feeling of irritation was coming from. “I’m sorry. I really like him and he’s having dinner with me tonight and I am a little,” he pauses to carefully consider his word choice. “Scared, i guess.”

She smiles and pats him on the shoulder, “Hun, just be yourself and everything will be fine. I have a feeling he’s very fond of you as well.”

His conversation with her changed his whole mindset. He went from being slightly on edge from the unpredictability of dinner to being hopeful that it would go well. 

He leaves a bit early to get some things for his dinner, and stands at the bus stop to text Dan.

 

To Dan: I'm going home early to start cooking, any allergies I should know about?  
From Dan: nope :) I should be there around 6 if that's alright?  
To Dan: text me when you're leaving so I know :)  
From Dan: sure thing ;)

 

Phil liked him. He really, really liked him. Looking back at the last few months they had been working together, he hadn’t been too subtle about it and neither had Dan. 

They spent all their time together in the office, they took turns getting each other coffee, they’d surprised the other with snacks and sweets randomly, they had some funny late night chats about life, and they had a mutual crush on each other that was finally brought to life.

Phil took his mom's advice and went to the flower shop first getting some white lilies that just screamed Dan, then he went to the grocery store and picked up all the things he needed to make pasta. He also grabbed some fresh bread and a premade salad, he never eat this well when he was alone but Dan deserved the best.

His mom said pasta was a good first date food because it showed him that he could cook and it’s also not the hardest thing in the world. He got home around half 5 and immediately went to work on dinner. Throwing some onions and mushrooms to caramelise before adding the ground beef in a frying pan and letting it cook.

The house smelt amazing, he boiled some water and placed the pasta in it to cook and added red sauce to his other pan. He was very impressed with himself. He was so caught up in his cooking that he never checked his phone, suddenly it was 6:10 and he had a knock at his door.

“Come in!” he yelled, the front door being a stone’s throw from his kitchen but he couldn’t take the chance of anything burning while he answered the door.

Slowly the door opened and in walked a freshly showered Dan. “I hope I’m not late, I had to change.” He said, once he was in.

“You’re just in time actually.” Phil said, moving his attention to draining the pasta water from the pot.

“Do you need any help?” Dan asked.

“Yeah, if you want to grab some forks and spoons from this-” Phil’s hands were occupied so he kicked his left leg in the direction of the silverware drawer, “drawer and put them on the table that would be good.”

Phil always had the same placemats on his table, even though eating at home was a foreign concept to him,he watched as Dan carefully set them out. 

“These flowers are lovely.” He mentioned, stroking the freshly bloomed petals.

“They reminded me of you so I got them.” Phil said, walking over with two plates filled with pasta. He placed them on the two placemats across from each other before going to grab the rest of the meal.

“You’re so cute.” Dan said, taking a seat. “You didn’t have to go through all this trouble just for me.”

“Oh, but I did.” Phil took the spot opposite him. “You’re special and I wanted to let you know that.” they was nothing but smiles and bright pink cheeks as the compliments flew back and forth between them.

Phil’s meal was surprisingly delicious, he’ll have to thank his mother later. Dan offered to help clean after they finished to which Phil objected. Dan, being himself, took a towel and started drying, asking where everything should go as he went along.

Phil leaned his butt against the counter as he dried his soapy hands, “So. What do you want to do now?” he asked.

“Your couch looks comfy, let’s go watch a movie.” Dan suggested.

“Alright.”

They settled on watching Moulin Rouge because Dan said it was his favorite childhood movie. Phil loaded it all up while Dan sat on his couch, he tucked a leg under his body and got into a comfortable position, Phil smiled at the sight of him making himself at home.

Phil sat down on the cushion beside him, not wanting to get too close in case he didn’t want him too, but Dan reached out and pulled him closer. Dan rested his chin on Phil’s shoulder and wrapped one arm under Phil’s, and he had never been happier in his life.

Phil had had a few relationships in his past, but they never went past cuddling and the occasional making out. He wasn’t skilled in relationships or love or sex, but he was ready for it when the time was to come. No pun intended.

An hour or so into the movie Dan started kissing him on the cheek and behind his ear. Phil could feel the blood running to his cheeks, his whole body starting to get hot and shiver with every touch.

Then Dan re-positioned himself, throwing one leg to the opposite side of Phil and straddling him. “Is this okay?” he asked cupping Phil’s cheeks and looking into his eyes.

Phil nodded, breathing heavy, “I haven’t kissed anyone in a really long time.” He admits to Dan, swallowing and making his Adam’s apple bob. He was staring up into Dan’s big chocolate brown eyes, almost getting lost in them.

“Me either,” Dan says before tilting his head to the side and placing a soft kiss to Phil’s lips.

At first it was soft and gentle, with each peck Phil felt tinkles flow through his body, his arm hairs were standing up, his skin was beginning to get warm and his hands had found their way to the back of his shirt, then slowly they moved down to the rounds of Dan’s hips and pulled him in closer. 

As the kiss picked up Phil was invited into Dan’s mouth, and everything went quiet. Completely taken away by the sensation, he’s kissed people before but never has he been so drawn into a person.   
Dan’s hands start to wander down Phil’s shoulders and across his chest, until he breaks the kiss and starts to travel his mouth down Phil’s jaw and neck. Paying careful attention to his Adam’s apple, nipping and kissing it before running wet trail up his neck with his tongue.

“Can I?” Dan asks, laying his hands on Phil’s top shirt button. He nods, scared to open his mouth in case he does or says anything embarrassing.

“Do you like hickeys?” Dan asks, three buttons down and taking his sweet time.

“I’ve never had one before.” Phil admits.

“Well, there’s a first time for everything.” He says before adding his mouth back to Phil’s neck, lazily kissing it before finding his way to Phil’s collar bone.

Phil holds his breath for a moment, unaware of the sensation he’s about to feel and more than aware of the one currently happening in his pants. He hopes to god Dan doesn’t feel it or doesn’t care that he’s getting hard from making out like a 13 year old boy.

As he sucks a dark spot under Phil’s collar bone, he lets out a sharp gasp followed by a broken moan. “You do like them” Dan says and smiles, Phil can feel his hot words against his chest.

He adds another one to the opposite side of Phil’s chest for symmetry and then sits back up straight, in doing so he adds some much needed friction to Phil’s crotch. He shudders a little at the tough and Dan arches an eyebrow.

“Oh, we have lift off.” Dan says before rocking his hips against Phil’s once more, this time on purpose.

“Um,” Phil starts, but his thoughts are cut off by more movement from Dan, “I uh, I’m a virgin.” Phil says, afraid that Dan will want to go all the way and he won’t know what to do.

“Do you want to continue? We don’t have to do anything you don’t want, I’m more than happy to just continue cuddling.” Dan’s voice is kind and comforting for Phil.

“We can do stuff I just, I’m not ready for the whole thing just yet.” Phil says, his cheeks turning a darker pink from both the heat of the moment and his embarrassment.

“Well then, let me take some care of this guy.” Slowly he runs his hands down Phil’s bare chest once more, stopping to undo Phil’s jeans and looking up. Phil nods and slowly Dan undoes his button.

Dan playfully traces his fingers along the outline of Phil’s bulge, before pulling down the zipper and giving him more room. He moves Phil’s underwear down a little, allowing the head to rest on Phil’s abdomen and running a finger over the slit.

Phil tilts his head back and moans, not caring anymore because this was the best experience of his life. Years of touching himself was nothing compared to the magic of Dan’s hands.

Dan smiles to himself seeing what a simple touch has done to Phil and grasps Phil’s length in his hands. A look of surprise and hunger on his face, Phil’s never seen someone look at him like that.

“You’re fucking huge.” Dan flat out says causing Phil to turn yet another shade darker. “Do you mind if I g-”

“Do whatever you want!” Phil cuts him off, so turned on he doesn’t care anymore. And to his surprise Dan is getting off him, pulling Phil’s pants down a little further and removing his own. For a moment Phil’s confused, he thought they weren’t doing anything but then Dan gets himself out and re-straddles Phil’s hips.

He moves his hand down, grips both of their hard members and starts to stroke them. Dan’s hand mixed with the heat and pleasure of another cock on his is enough to shoot Phil to the moon like a fucking rocket.

The pure sight of Dan working both of them is the best thing Phil has ever seen, “You’re so fucking beautiful!” he says to Dan, his voice low from the pleasure. Dan moans in response.

Phil doesn’t know what to do with his hands at first, he loosely places them around Dan’s neck before pulling Dan in to kiss him some more. It’s hot and clumsy, their mouths collide again and again, tongues battling for dominance and a string of moans slipping out.

Dan’s pace has picked up and Phil can’t hold off any longer, he was ready to come the second Dan started, it’s a surprise he’s lasted so long. He moves his mouth to Dan’s neck and tries to mimic what Dan had done to him a few minutes before.

“Fuck, Phiiil!” Dan moans as Phil licks up his neck.

“I- I’m very close” Phil whispers into the crook of his neck.

“Me too, fuck!” Dan thrust his hips to match the strokes he making, overthrowing Phil with pleasure as he releases.

He comes with a string of curse words and the hand that was resting behind Dan’s neck grabs a fist full of hair. He feels Dan’s body start to tremble before he too comes all over his hand and Phil’s chest.

Dan rests his forehead against Phil’s, they’re both trying to catch their breath. Dan giggles a little, “I’ve wanted to do that for so long.”

He gets up and tucks himself into his underwear again. Phil watches as he walks over to the kitchen table and grabs a few sheets of paper towel, wiping his hand and returning to clean Phil off.

“How long have you wanted to do that?” Phil asks, surprised to hear what he did.

Dan blushes, “I’ve been following you on twitter and Instagram for a few years, because I look up to you, and over time I’ve developed feelings for you.” He admits, sitting back down beside Phil.

“Really?” Phil’s voice is soft, genuinely happy with the fact Dan has liked him for a while, “How come you never reached out to me? I would have loved to know you longer.”

Dan lightly shoves Phil so he’d lie back a little more on the couch and cuddles into him. Phil’s shirt still undone and Dan runs his fingers through the small amount of chest hair.

“Because I wanted to work for you one day and get the job because I was smart not because we were friends or because you liked me.” his voice is light, too light to be considered a whisper.

“You’re so smart, and so cute and I’m so bloody happy I met you.” Phil says while running his hand up and down Dan’s back in a soothing pattern.

“Thank you. I’m really glad I finally met you too.” Dan says, Phil leans down and kisses the top of his head.

He’s not sure how it happened, but suddenly it was 8:30 and his alarm that was set for every day was playing somewhere in his house. In his early morning haze he’s a bit confused to where he is and what’s going on.

He’s still in his glasses, his shirt from the night before and he’s still on the couch in the living room. Dan’s not with him, but Dan’s pants are still on the floor by his coffee table and there’s a faint smell of pancakes coming from behind him.

He sits up and peeks over the back of the couch to see Dan in his kitchen, underwear and an apron on, making breakfast. It’s a cute sight, with his butt cheeks slightly showing and his hair all messy from the night before, Phil loves it.

He gets, up and walks over to him. Without a second thought he wraps his arms around him and kisses the back of his neck. “Morning.” He murmurs into his skin, and smiles.

“Hi sleepy head.” Dan replies. “I hope it's okay I stayed? You fell asleep and I was too comfortable to get up.”

“It’s more than fine, and these pancakes are a bonus.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> also, to maria who keeps adding really cute comments; you are really nice and i love reading them, if you have a twitter or tumblr can you comment with them or find me on tumblr @ emilysshook or on twitter @heckyheavendan :) i'd love to be your friend lol


	5. Chapter 5

They weren’t hiding whatever they were, they just mutually agreed that at work they only focused on work. Occasionally they’d steal a kiss when they knew they were alone and they continued to go get coffees together and spend late nights in the office, but they made sure they stayed professional.

For 2 weeks they were both super busy with their own things, Dan was working on the robots software and the outside design. He had 2 copies of the bot, one that went through all the testing and the real one that had all the adjustments made to it as they went along.

Meanwhile, Phil had meeting after meeting discussing the samples they needed, how many, and how they would react in their 5 year journey back to earth. They were concerned that the heat from the plutonium battery would make the samples hot and possibly have them evaporate before they got back to earth, making the mission pointless.

Without a single solution for 2 weeks, Phil called in the smartest person he knew. Still in his meeting, surrounded by 12 of the “smartest” minds in NASA and Louise, he calls down to Dan’s lab.

“Howell here.” He answers.

“Uh, hey. Are you busy?” Phil asks, the whole meeting listening.

“Always, but I can make time. What’s up?”

“I need to pick your brain, can you come to the office?”

“I’ll be right up.”

“Okay.”

Louise knows there’s something between them, she won’t talk about it but she’s always lurking and listening in. So when Dan walks in with his head down looking at his phone, “yes dear,” Louise chuckles.

“Oh,” Dan looks up and steps back.

“When I said I needed to pick your brain I meant me and twelve other people, I should have specified.” Phil says, embarrassed and concerned that everyone knows they're together now.

Dan pulls his computer chair up to the desk next to Phil, “what do you need?”

“We’re having some trouble thinking of how the samples will survive their 5 year trek back to earth.” Jessica, a biophysicist, asked in her over exaggerated New Yorker accent that often got on Phil’s nerves.

“Yes, we’re worried the heat from the battery you’re packing to keep the bot warm will cause them to evaporate over time.” Another man, possibly named Arthur, adds.

“I can make it so that the bot has enough power to drop the batteries and climb aboard the rocket again. Then it could be powered down and stay chilled on its trip back.” Like always, he doesn’t skip a beat. The answer rolls off his tongue in a matter of seconds.

Phil smiles and leans back in his chair, a look on his face like ‘yeah I know my boyfriend's a fucking genius.’

The whole room goes silent for a moment, “how the fuck did we sit here for 2 weeks debating this and you figured it out in 2 seconds?” Jessica’s high pitched voice of pure disbelieve rang through the office.

“I was already planning on leaving the batteries behind because they wouldn’t be safe returning to earth after 10 years in space.” Dan admits. But also Phil had been ranting about that problem the other night, and Dan had been thinking of an answer for him.

The meeting adjourned and everyone but Dan left the room. “I'm sorry about that.” He said turning to Phil and placing his hand on Phil's knee.

“It's fine, dear.” Phil said, mocking Dan for his earlier actions, resulting in a playful smack.

“You don't mind the pet names? Cause we aren't technically together so I didn't know-”

“Did you want to be together?” Phil Interjects. His heart starts to race and his ears get hot, he's nervous to receive an answer.

Dan's lips start to curl, his smile growing and displaying his trademark dimple. “I really would.”

Reaching his hand forward to cup Dan's face and pull him into a kiss, Phil's smile equally as wide. The two of them press their lips together but it doesn't last long, it’s cut off by more smiles and giggles.

“I always knew you two were sickly sweet to each other.” Louise says, leaning her weight on the door frame. They were unaware she was there but part of them doesn't mind.

“What do you need Louise?” Phil turned and asked, still smiling.

“I left my note pad.” She said walking in, still staring at Dan and Phil who were still extremely close to each other. “Can I ask how long this has been happening?”

“No.” Phil says, not wanting to open up.

“Honestly, we’ve liked each other for a while but we just made it official before you interrupted.” Dan’s cheerful response livens up the mood.

“Well I’m glad. I hopped you two would get together.” She said before leaving and closing the door behind her.

Phil huffed and went to resume kissing Dan all over his face. “You’re cute. I like you.” He whispered into his ear.

“Good.” Dan whispered back. “Do you want to go out tonight?”

“Where?” Phil said in between kisses he was laying on Dan's cheeks, jaw and ear lobe.

“Let me surprise you.”

-

Dan told him he had to set up some things for their date and that he would come pick him up at 10. It seemed a little late for Phil but he was excited nonetheless. Dan also said it wasn’t fancy place so he could wear whatever he pleased, and Phil wanted to please Dan.

In both a sexual and non-sexual way. He knew how sex worked, he’d seen all different kinds of sex thanks to the power of the internet. But before that night with Dan he had no idea how he would be able to react in a sexual situation.

For some reason unknown, his body knew what to do even if his mind didn’t. But to be sure for the next time they were to get intimate, he wanted to know exactly what to do.

He had a few hours to spare and unlimited internet access, so he loaded up and incognito tab and typed ‘how to pleasure my boyfriend’ into the search bar.

The results that came up were all centered on woman wanting to impress their boyfriends, until he stumbled upon a blog for gay men sex tips. The blog wasn’t too obscene or anything Phil hadn’t viewed in the past. Each post dedicated to a different sex act and partnered with an aesthetic photo of a clearly staged intimate scene.

He reached a post titled ‘the a-z of giving and receiving anal sex’ this seemed like a good starting off point.

The post went through the basics. Condoms and lube are important, ‘no shit’ Phil thought. It was separated for topping and bottoming, personally Phil hadn't thought of what he'd want to do if he was to have sex. He'd tried fingering and enjoyed it but the thought of anything more was a little scary to him at the moment. 

If Dan wanted to ever do it, he hopped that he'd be able to top. He read up on proper stretching and safe words. Taking in every single point of making sure he knew how to pleasure someone and how to make it fun. 

The most important part to him was the paragraph on aftercare. Clean up, cuddling and making sure they are okay. He never wants to hurt Dan, he wants him to be loved and happy. And he thinks he's ready. 

Phil was always taught growing up that sex was something you did when you loved someone, that it was intimate and special and it should be shared with the most special person in your life. And to Phil, that was Dan. 

He wasn't ready to tell him he loved him, they had only been together and expressing feelings for a short time, and love was a scary thing. He didn't know how Dan felt or if he even believed in love. But his reaction to Interstellar was enough to lead Phil to thinking he might. 

Realizing it was almost 10, he shut down his laptop and freshened up. Adding a few sprays of his favorite cologne so he'd smell like a fresh man who had just spent the day cutting down trees in the forest. 

Dan knocked at the door at 10 and Phil was already at the door waiting, but because he didn't want to seem like he was he waited a few seconds before opening the door.

Dan was in a plain black T-shirt, which was unusual. Phil was so used to seeing him in button ups that a form fitting shirt almost made him drool. 

“Nice to see you too,” Dan said with a cheeky grin, which turned Phil's cheeks a nice rosy color in embarrassment.

“Have you ever been to the Planetarium?” He asks seeing as Phil's still standing there in silence, checking him out. 

“Uh,” Phil clears his throat, “no, I've wanted to go with someone if I was to ever go.” He didn't want to seem lonely and that gave him anxiety. Outsider's opinions and stares were his biggest fear. 

“Well, I pulled some strings and my friends letting us go in after hours. Right now.” Dan replied, pulling Phil out the door in excitement.

On the ride over Phil explained all his favorite constellation and nebula's. Hoping that the show they were going to see would have them in it. 

Dan's friend met them at the door, brought them in and locked up. He said the place was theirs for as long as they wanted. He gave them passes so the cleaning people knew not to freak out if they saw them and a radio so they can page someone to let them out when they’re done.

First Dan took him around to see all the memorabilia from NASA, explaining what everything was as they went along. 

Dan knew the dates of every model, figurine and display and their history. It was nice to walk around alone and geek out over all the things that made them love space. 

Phil was in awe of everything. His blue eyes sparkled under the bright lights and he caught Dan staring into them more often than he was looking at anything else. He couldn’t believe that Dan got them in here and that everything was just for them to see in that moment.

Dan took Phil's hand and lead him up a set of stairs to where the light show would take place. Upon reaching the top of the stairs Phil sees everything Dan has had set up. He immediately stops and stares at Dan. “You didn’t.”

Dan kisses him on the cheek, “sue me for wanting to spoil the man I’ve looked up to and liked for years.”

If it makes Dan happy, then that’s all that he wants. Dan’s had them set up a blanket and pillows on the floor as well as a box of pizza. All he can think is that Dan sure knows how to steal a man’s heart.

In the center of the room there was a projector in the shape of a telescope. There’s a leaver on the side, and Dan tells him to pull it. Grabbing it and pulling it down, the telescope starts to spin a little and looks upwards.

The whole room goes dark and suddenly the ceiling explodes into a magnificent dark night sky and slowly fills with all the stars Phil has been obsessed with his whole life. It was as if a giant hand had thrown diamonds into the sky, sparkling and wonderful, blowing Phil’s mind.

He wandered around a little, mouth hung open a smidgen, constantly staring up at the ‘sky’. More than once he reaches us to touch them, his hands being hit by the projector light and turning him into the stars as well.

His heart can't handle all the emotions flowing through him. He’s unbelievably happy, the joy spreading through his body like wildfire. He’s so caught up in the stars he doesn’t realize Dan sitting on the blanket waiting for him.

“Thank you.” Phil said, sitting down on the blanket beside Dan and laying a kiss on his cheek. “This is the best thing someone's ever done for me.”

Cuddling in a relationship was always what Phil favored. Sitting on a blanket with his favorite person wrapped in his arms while looking at the only thing that made him happy for a while was the best thing for him. 

The silence was nice, Dan tracing outlines on Phil’s arms while they cuddled was nicer. “I’m really glad I have you.” Dan whispered and nuzzled into his shoulder.

Phil’s heart stopped, “I’m really glad I have you as well.”

“No seriously.” Dan sat up and turned around to face him. “I don’t normally have anyone. So this means a lot to me.” His eyes started to grow glossy.

“What do you mean?” Phil asked, grabbing his hands in support.

“My parents died when I was 12. Then me and my brother moved in with my grandparents, but I moved over here at 15, all by myself. And when I came out I wasn’t accepted back home and I have basically been alone for the last 11 years of my life.” The tears in his eyes slowly built up till they were running down his face.

Cupping his face and wiping the tears from his eyes with his thumbs. “Well you have me for as long as you want me.”

“I don’t think I’ll ever not want you.” he said before settling into Phil chest and lying back again. Cuddling back into the crook of Phil’s neck. 

Phil’s whole body was tingling, he had never felt this way about another human. Dan was special, he was his and Phil was very sure that the feeling in his heart that he was having so much trouble identifying was, in fact, love. 

“You know,” Phil said after thinking for a while, “my mom always wanted a 3rd child, but she couldn't have any more babies after me, and I always felt bad. But I think if I was to bring you into my family she’d be really happy.” 

He could feel Dan’s smile against his skin, “if they’re anything like you I think I’ll love them too.”

Love them too. Three words that were going to be orbiting Phil’s mind and heart on a never ending loop like the moon.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you're getting 2 chapters today because i'm almost done writing and i want to share it with you all so bad!!! thanks for all the love i really appreciate it!!

Phil blinked and suddenly another month had gone by. He had managed to go through learning all the software required to control the bot as well as helping design the sample test tubes.

Phil had spent countless late nights in the office working on designs, approving different tests that needed to be made to both the bot and the different kinds of samples they wanted, as well as countless budget meetings.

They were given a $2 billion spending cap, and so far they had spent a quarter of it, he didn't see how they could possibly max or even meet that amount of money but he wasn't going to jinx it.

The most money that was spent was on Dan’s two copies of the bot, but it was something Phil was okay with, because in the odd chance that one got destroyed in testing that they wouldn't have to start from scratch. Again, he didn't want to jinx it.

The month was good work wise, but not so good for Phil relationship wise. Dan had been just as equally busy, when they were together they were in the office in silence, surrounded by mountains of paperwork and blueprints. He was starting to go a little crazy without attention, not knowing how he went so long without it in the past.

“Tomorrow we have a joint meeting, for once.” Dan said after a few hours of silence. 

“Are we narrowing down the robot's name tomorrow?” Phil said, before taking a break and laying his head down on his desk. 

“Yeah, I’m pretty excited for it.” Phil could hear the smile on his face as he talked. “Seeing as the meeting is at eleven tomorrow and we don't have anything else planned for the day do you want to go home and relax a little?”

Slowly Phil sat up, and his lips began to curl into a wide smile. “I’d love nothing more than to go home and relax with you.” 

Dan stood up and walked around the desk to Phil’s side. Wrapped his arms around Phil and rested his chin on his head. Even the slightest touch warmed Phil’s heart. He let out a huff, and began to stand up. 

Hand in hand they walked through the building on the way to Dan’s car. Louise caught them on the way out and gave them a smile, as well as the receptionist. Phils mom was right all those years ago, he did meet someone at NASA and they are the best power couple anyone has ever seen.

Phil was so tired he fell asleep in the half hour long car ride back to their building. He didn't realize they were there until Dan was poking his arm lightly to get his attention. They were in the underground car park, it was dark and the only light was an ominous orange one on the wall. 

“Come on sleepy, let me take you to your place.” Dan said, opening Phil’s door and assisting his groggy sleep deprived ass out of the car.

“You’re still coming in to relax with me right?” he said, his eyes growing to be the size of the moon and his bottom lip sticking out in an attempt to sweet talk Dan into staying the night.

“You look pretty tired, are you sure you don’t want to just sleep?” Dan said while taking his hand and walking to the elevator. 

“Come sleep with me.” Phil said, and Dan stopped in his tracks, “in an innocent way. Like a sleepover.” He says in a panic, suddenly wide awake.

“You’re so cute.” is all Dan replies.

Phil gave Dan a pair of pajamas but he said he was only comfortable in his boxers, if Phil was okay with it, and honestly he didn't mind. Claiming, ‘we’ve already seen everything it’s not that weird.” which made Dan blush. 

“I sleep on the left side, is that okay?” Phil said, turning down the covers and adding a few more pillows for Dan.

He looked over at Dan who was just smiling and shaking his head. “I sleep on the right, so it’s pretty perfect actually.” 

He was a bit nervous when he finally got into bed. Him and Dan have spent a night together before but it was an accident, this time they were aware that it was going to happen.

Dan got in and snuggled into Phil’s side. They spent a few minutes taking it all in, Dan’s breathing was steady and relaxing. But his mind is racing over the fact that he’s so madly in love with him, and he has no idea if it’s mutual. 

Dan lets out a deep breath against Phil’s neck, “what made you want to be an astrophysicist?” he whispers.

“Um,” Phil says with a light giggle, “I loved the stars growing up. I loved to look up and see them shining and mysterious and I always pretend I knew why they were there. I even used to make up stories about different stars and what they were like.” he didn’t realize that he was smiling so big remembering it all. 

“Do you remember how little you were when they first intrigued you?” Dan was rubbing little circles into Phil’s chest. 

“Yeah actually, I remember being four and making a wish on a star to have a friend one day. Cause I was a really lonely kid, and my brother laughed at me because he thought I was a dork. But looking back at it, I think it was worth it.” every other wish he ever made as a kid had come true, from wanting to learn as much as he could about space, to working at NASA one day. 

“Did your wish ever come true?” it was like Dan read his mind.

“It only took 23 years, but I think it did.” 

The feeling of the pads of Dan’s fingers were enough to put him to sleep, he felt his body get heavy and his mind start to go blank. He was almost fully out when he heard a very soft “I love you.” from Dan. 

That man was his whole life. He was everything Phil needed and more. Maybe he spent so much time alone as a child because one day he would be so overwhelmed with love and happiness. Maybe that wish he made 23 years ago was a blessing. Maybe the reason Dan lights up his life and reminds him of stardust is because he was sent to this earth in the form of a star, waiting to be found by Phil.

-

Phil woke up to the early morning Texas sun shining into his room. When he fell asleep Dan was cuddled into him, but sometime in the night they ended up spooning. Phil had never been the big spoon before, but he was glad he is now. The light was hitting Dan in a perfect way that his face was shining and his hair was beautiful. He could see the definition of every soft curl and it took everything in him to not run his fingers through it. 

He lost all control and lightly ran his free hand through the curls. Dan’s eyes fluttered open, and squinted as the light hit them. “Morning cutie.” Phil whispered into his ear, then laying a kiss on his cheek. 

Dan rolled onto his back so he could look up at Phil, “Hi.” he said before grabbing his face and pulling him down into a kiss. Dan’s lips were slightly chapped, but they were perfect nonetheless. Everything about him was perfect.

Phil pulled back a little, but Dan pulled him back in. Running his tongue against Phil’s bottom lip, Phil kissed him back lovingly. They hadn’t made out since that time in Phil’s living room. 

Suddenly, the alarm on Phil’s phone goes off. Dan breaks the kiss, “We don't have to be in till like ten thirty. Can we stay here a bit longer?” he says, his breath heavy and his eyes still closed. 

Phil doesn’t answer, he simply connects their lips and moves to straddle Dan. Resting his hands on Dan’s chest, his ass raised in the air and Dan's hands are rubbing up and down his back. 

It’s the morning, so naturally they both have a bit of a situation going on. Phil has no remorse, he slowly lowers his body and grinds down against Dan, who moans into his mouth. 

He remembers what Dan did the last time they were together, he stops kissing Dan only to pay some careful attention to his neck. As soon as Phil laid a kiss to his skin, Dan was a writhing mess. 

“I- oh my god- I love this.” Dan said, causing Phil to smile mid hickey and his teeth to graze Dan’s neck, the moan that was let out in response was enough to make Phil come in his pants. 

“Sweet Jesus, touch me!” Dan moaned out, and in response Phil ground down on him again, and again, and again until they were basically fucking with their clothes on. Dan was grinding back upwards and moaning like a whore in a porno. Phil had never in his life imagined he could wreck someone like this. 

He stopped sucking his neck so that he could look down at the complete mess Dan had become. His hair was sweaty and stuck to his forehead, his lips were swollen and purple from the kissing before, and he was panting. 

More and more they grinded into one another, kissing ferociously, and Dan’s hands went from holding Phil's back for support to digging his nails into him in pure pleasure and need.

“Oh, fuck Phil.” he moaned into Phil’s ear as Phil went back to his neck. “More, please, oh my god!”

Phil sucked hard into a place where he already laid a hickey, knowing how much   
Dan was into it. The noise he made mixed with the unusual pleasure from the scratches on his back and the feeling of his wet boxers on Dan’s sent him into his orgasm. 

Phil grinded down as hard as he could, rocking himself back and forth and still sucking on Dan's neck, he came all over his boxers. Dan started to shake, his own orgasm ripping through him as he moaned in such a high pitched scream Phil was sure they could hear it from space. 

His body calmed down, and he stopped the rocking motion of his hips. Slowly he applied kisses all the way up Dan’s neck, on his chin, one on both cheeks, his closed eyelids and his sweaty forehead. Dan giggled softly the whole time. 

“Thank you.” Dan whispered. A smile breaking out onto his face. 

Phil smiled back down at him. “Anything for you.” he said with one last kiss before getting off him and offering Dan a hand to sit up.

Dan sat on the edge of the bed for a minute. He ran his fingers through his fringe, due to the sweat it stayed slicked back. Dan was staring off into space when Phil returned with clean underwear and a plain blue dress shirt. 

“You can shower here if you want and put these on.” Phil said, laying them on the night table on Dan’s side.

“Shower with me.” he said, standing up and taking his boxers off. He grabbed Phil’s hand and went to the on suite bathroom. 

Phil didn’t mind the nakedness, rather he enjoyed having someone to wash his back and hair. He loved how soft Dan was, every part of his body felt like silk. He was smooth and beautiful and Phil took it all in. 

In the back of his mind he wasn't sure if he dreamed Dan telling him that he loved him or if it really happened. Either way he knew that he loved Dan with his whole heart and he wasn’t ever going to stop. 

Dan was turned away from him, facing the water to rinse off his body. Phil just smiled to himself, wondering how he managed to get the most beautiful person in the whole world to be his. Before he could turn back around, Phil wrapped his arms around him and kissed his shoulders. 

“I love you.” he says softly into Dan’s neck. Taking a deep breath and praying he’s okay with it. 

He gets a bit worried when Dan slowly moves Phil’s arms off him. But then he turns around, his eyes filled with tears and his bottom lip quivering. Phil starts to cry too, he’s in love and it’s scary.

Dan just steps forward and hugs Phil tighter that anyone has ever done before. Naked and vulnerable, they stay in the shower hugging while the water hits them. They’re still crying when Dan pulls back and looks Phil directly in the eyes and cupping his face. 

“Phil Lester, I love you more than the sun loves the moon, more than the stars love the night sky and more than I ever expected to love another human being.” Dan manages to say, his voice cracking from the pressure of the moment. 

Phil kisses him on the lips approximately 75 times. Somewhere in all the kisses he starts to smile and they’re just standing in a shower soaking wet, butt naked, laughing and in love. 

-

They couldn't really focus during the meeting. Dan sat extremely close to Phil, and the only thought going through his head was ‘he loves me too.’

Louise could tell that something was different, she noticed that they kept staring fondly at each other and they were holding hands under the table. “Psst” she whispered their way.

“What?” Phil whispered back.

“We’re in a meeting, tone down the love a little.” she said with a grin. 

“So Dr. Lester, we’ve all looked at the names that were suggested by your crew. But we were wondering what one you favored?” The director of NASA asked, his eyes piercing Phil’s soul while waiting for an answer.

The team had narrowed down 4 names to send to the director for consideration. Sommer was suggested by Andrew and Jessica, Arlette was sent in by some of the men in the lab, Louise picked out Alvina, and Dan suggested Cleora. All 4 were good but one of them just stood out better with Europa.

“I really liked the sound of Cleora. It has a nice ring to it. Like, Cleora has landed on Europa. It just sounds right.” Phil, said, he watched as the director smiled to his answer.

“Well I guess we have it then. Her name is Cleora. And she will be landing on Europa in 2020. How much longer till we can launch her?” The director’s voice was chipper and excited.

“I have to do radiation testing on her twin tomorrow and then make adjustments based off of the results, but I can see her launching in another 2 months.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> beware of angst and minor character death

From Dan: are you awake?

It was only midnight when Phil got a text from Dan. He wasn’t one to text unless he had to, so of course Phil was worried.

To Dan: of course, whats wrong?  
From Dan: How did you know something was wrong?

“Because I love you and I know how your brain works.” Phil mumbled into his phone, he wouldn’t text that but he knew that Dan was an anxious person and he also knew that he had a big day ahead of him.

To Dan: the tone was weird, do you want to come down and talk?

He didn’t get a reply right away like he normally did, that could only mean Dan was on his way. Phil walked to the front of his apartment, opened the door and stood in the hallway until he saw Dan when the elevator doors opened.

He shot him a small smile and tilted his head to the right. It was body language for ‘babe, what’s wrong.’ Dan was in his pj’s and wrapped in a galaxy printed fluffy blanket. His eyes were bloodshot and he looked like a mess.

Dan walked right into his arms, buried his head in Phil’s chest and took in a deep breath. Phil held him there until he noticed they had been hugging in the middle of the hallway for a few minutes.

Without thinking, he picked Dan up, Dan wrapped his legs around Phil's waist for support and he started to walk back into his place. Phil carried him all the way to his bedroom and set him down gently, he walked over to his side, lied down and pulled Dan back into his chest.

“Everything will be okay tomorrow. I know it’s the big testing day but you’re incredibly smart and you know what you’re doing. I know it will go smoothly.” his voice calm and light. He knows exactly what Dan needs when he’s like this.

“I love you. I just wish you could be there when it happens.” Dan says into Phil’s chest.

“I love you too but Louise and I have a budget meeting that I can’t skip out on.” Phil said before kissing his curls. 

Dan let out a long huff, with that his shoulders fell soft and all the tension from his body was let go. He sat up for a second to throw his blanket off him and rip his shirt off. Then he shimmied out of his track pants and moved under the covers. Phil watched Dan get ready for bed in his home like he'd done it a million times. Like he felt safe there, and like it was his home too. 

“I need to take my mind off this. Tell me some stories.” Dan demanded like a 4 year old would to their mother before bed.

Phil laughed at him, “okay. Uh, once upon a time there was this little boy named Phil. He lived in a small town with his mum and dad and his older brother.

“He had this strange fascination with the stars and space. He claimed he knew aliens were real and they lived on the planets that orbited the stars. 

“The people from his town made fun of him, they said he had a big imagination and that one day he'd look back on all the stars he made wishes on and laugh. That he'd never have his wishes come true and he'd be trapped in the small town forever.

“The wish he made the most often however wasn't about the stars or space. It was quite selfish actually. He wished that one day someone would love him. That one day he'd have a best friend and that while he didn't have that person in his life he hoped they were happy. 

“Years went by and he never got his wish. All his little ones came true. He got into university, he worked at NASA, and he thought he was happy.

“But then he met someone. He met a man who radiated light like the way the moon reflects the sun's glow. He was special, and smart and wonderful. Phil loved him the way he loved the stars. 

“He was made of stardust and hope and love. And when he told Phil he loved him back, it was as if his heart was the earth and the man orbited it like the moon. Without him Phil wouldn't be able to function. His tides would rise and he'd be destroyed.” 

Somewhere in Phil's story he started to cry. Enough for tears to trickle down his face but his voice stayed steady. Dan let go of him and sat up straight. He criss-crossed his legs and stared down at Phil. 

“Once upon a time there was a boy named Dan. He came from a poor family. But money didn't matter because together they were happy.

“Dan loved building things, figuring things out and helping people. But the one thing he couldn't help was that he never felt loved. And when he did, it didn't last long. 

“His parents dropped him off at his grandma's when he was 12. They said they'd be back to get him and that they loved him. But the knock at the door that night was the police, and not his parents. 

“He never left his grandma's house that night. He stayed there for 3 more years, being told he was loved and that his parents would love to see where he was now.

“He moved to the US for school, met people who said they loved him but really they loved his connections. When he realised he wanted boys to love him his love from back home was cut off. He was certain he'd never be truly loved again.

“It wasn't until he met a blue eyed man with a heart the size of the earth that he realised love was something more than a word that was thrown around by the people closest to you. That love was this gut wrenching feeling that overwhelmed you and scared the living shit out of you. That the pure thought of losing their love would kill you. 

“But it was all okay because when they truly loved you back it was like the stars aligned and the sun was shining and the world would turn forever. And when he kissed him his heart exploded like the big bang and all he wanted to do was start a fresh life with that person and never let them go.” when Dan finished talking he wept. Tears running down his face, his body spasming and his breath hitching with each cry.

Phil didn't know how his parents died, he didn't know how many people had broken his heart. But he did know that he wasn't going to be one of them. The two of them sat there wrapped in each other's arms, the room had gone dark and the only sounds were the cars going by and light breathing. 

When everything calmed down Phil lightly rolled Dan over and cuddled into him instead. “Promise you'll be mine forever.”

“I'd like too, but forever isn't long enough for me.” He joked. “I love you.” 

“I love you too.”

-

It was the big day. Dan was testing Cleora’s twin in the radiation control chamber. He had applied a special coding to her so that she’d react better in the radiation field that surrounded Jupiter and her moons. 

Phil kissed him and wished him good luck before heading to his office for a meeting. Luckily his office over looked the exact lab Dan would be working in. 

The whole meeting Phil stared out the window. It was a bit ominous for them to have an ambulance and firetrucks on hand in the field surrounding the lab. But in the odd chance anything were to happen he'd rather they were prepared than taking their time to save Dan. 

2, 3, 4 hours went by. They discussed spending and materials that were needed, they renewed contracts and assigned raises to the best people on the team. Phil was bored out of his mind. 

They were about to break for coffee when it happened. Phil was pushing chair in to get one last look out the window where Dan was when the building lit in a flash and the alarm sounded. 

NASA protocol is that if any part of any building on the lot has a fire, or in this case, an explosion the building is to evacuate and go on lock down. 

But Phil wasn't going to follow protocol. He grabbed the access badge off his desk and sprinted down the hall.

He didn't think twice. His life flashed before his eyes, there was a ringing in his ears. He couldn't hear Louise, Andrew or Jessica yelling after him.

The elevators were shut down, he pushed people out of the way in the stairwell, booked it past Cara in the lobby and sprinted into the lot.

If he had run like this 20 years ago he would have made the track team. He didn't have time to panic. His adrenaline kicked in and he couldn't stop.

The lab was being evacuated, he could see people coming out on stretchers, others running out while they could and the firetrucks were hosing down the building. 

He pushed through a crowd of people, the ringing in his head still blocking out the people yelling at him to watch it, and the security telling him he couldn't access the lab at the moment.

He reached the entrance of the lab, smoke pouring from the back doors. He swiped his access key again and again and again. Each time he wasn't granted access. By the 13th swipe he was so scared and frustrated he sat on the floor in a weeping mess. 

Louise and Cara had caught up to him, at this point he was sat on the ground, screaming with tears falling down his face. Louise took him into her arms and attempted to shush him while Cara ran to a firetruck to get a tin foil survival blanket to help calm him down. 

Phil was shaking violently. The sobs and words that were leaving his mouth weren't even English at this point. 2 firemen had to come and lift Phil to move him from the door of the lab as the fire spread. 

They placed him in the back of an ambulance and sedated him. It was the only way to get him to calm down. The shock and adrenaline mixed with the sedative knocked him out. Louise sat beside him in the ambulance rubbing his back waiting for him to calm down and learn the truth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i'm on my way to work and thought i'd post a chapter to torture you guys, lol i'll be posting another chapter in 6 hours :) get ready!!


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> still writing the last 2 chapters, so tomorrow you might not have an update but ill try!

When Phil woke up it was in a gasping panic. He sat straight up, the tears immediately falling from his face. The sedation caused him to pass out, but when he woke up his mind was still in the same place it was before. Panic.

He placed his hands over his eyes and screamed. Only to be startled by familiar soft arms being wrapped around him. 

“Shhhh Phil it's okay. I'm here, it's okay.” Dan's voice whispered. Phil was sure he was still dreaming or they were both in heaven.

Slowly he removed his hands from his face and looked around. He was in a hospital room. There were two chairs beside his bed, the one on the left was clearly Dan's that he had jumped from when he heard Phil's scream.

Phil wept. Ugly tears, incoherent words coming out of his mouth, and he grabbed Dan and pulled him into a hug. He didn't let go. 

“You're going to kill me if you squeeze any harder.” Dan giggled into Phil's embrace. 

“How?” Phil cried. 

“I left to grab a coffee, Louise had texted me saying you guys were going and I left the boys in charge of the final test, thinking they were skilled enough. But then the explosion happened and I was rushed to the back entrance of the building while you ran to the front and I couldn't reach you to tell you I was fine.” Dan explained while running his fingers up and down Phil's arm to calm him down.

There were still tears falling down his face, his shirt was went from the ones that had fallen from his chin and a smile started to grow on his face.

“I promised you longer than forever, and I always keep my promises.” Dan said before laying 100 kisses to Phil's face.

-

Once Phil had fully calmed down they let him out of the hospital. They asked if he wanted to schedule an appointment with a PTSD specialist, but he said no. Dan didn't die, he was going to be somewhat okay. Every day loving someone and fearing to lose them is a struggle. He could get through it.

Dan stayed the night with him. They didn't talk much more than repeating that they loved each other. Their bodies were pressed together and tangled up, they never wanted to be apart again. 

The director told them to take a few days off to calm down together. The whole office was in shock but they had it the worst. They lost 4 members of their team and Phil almost lost Dan. It was the single most terrifying moment that would ever happen in Phil's life. 

Another day went by. They spent it on the couch watching F.R.I.E.N.D.S marathons on tv. Still cuddled and still reminding the other that they loved them.

Phil had some time to process his thoughts while Dan was taking a quick shower. He sat in his bed a remembered what his mom told him when he was 15.

“You're going to meet lots of people in life that you love. But one day you'll meet someone who will change your life forever. And when you do, that's the person you sleep with. It's something so immensely special that it shouldn't be wasted on someone who isn't going to love you to the fullest. 

“I was 23 when I met your father. I had plenty of boys I could have got with but I waited. And when I fell in love with him I knew he was the only one who deserved me. Yes it's your body, and yes it's your choice. But make it wisely and make it with someone you want to do it with for the rest of your life.” 

Dan was his forever. He was special. He deserved him, and he was going to love him for the rest of his life. 

When Dan came out of the shower Phil was crying again. Dan sat beside him, still in his towel and rubbed his hand on Phil's back. 

“Hey, what's wrong?” He asked, his tone had been even more soft and loving since the incident. 

“I love you.” Phil said.

“I love you too.” Dan replied. 

“And I want you to make love to me.” Phil whispered.

“Are you sure? I don't want to take advantage of you while you're still upset.” Dan claimed, almost more nervously then Phil asked.

“I'm not upset. I'm crying because for the first time in my life I am in love and I want to celebrate that by giving myself to you.” 

Phil didn't have to ask again. Dan slowly started to kiss him. It was soft like the first kiss they shared in the hallway, but the meaning behind it was a million times stronger. 

Phil stopped to take his clothes off, and Dan removed his towel. They stood in front of each other completely naked and laughed. Completely in love and giddy about it.

“Do you have lube and a condom?” Dan asked.

“In the drawer right there.” Phil pointed behind Dan, who turned around to grab it. 

Dan placed them on the bed and they climbed under the covers. Phil was incredibly nervous that he was going to do it wrong.

“Can I bottom?” Dan asked. “I want to feel you and remember this for the rest of my life.”

“I'm completely fine as long as you're comfortable.” Phil said before rolling onto Dan and laying kisses to his face.

Dan's lips were like heaven. They pulled Phil in and made him feel safe. His skin was like velvet, soft and unlike anything Phil's touched in his life.

His heart was beating faster and faster as they kissed. Phil started to kiss down Dan's body. Slowly, he kissed his neck. The noises Dan made were like angels singing to him.

He moved down his chest. Kissing a trail from his collarbones to his heart down to his tummy. It was cute and soft, it deserved a million and one kisses. 

He rested his hands on Dan's hips. Kissed the left side and made his way to the right. Laying a kiss to the head of Dan's hard member as he went over. 

Dan let out a soft moan and grabbed Phil's hair. Phil had never done this, but knowing Dan, anything he did would be appreciated. 

Phil licked up the base of Dan's cock to the head. Taking the head in his mouth and running his tongue along the underside and he took it further in his mouth. 

He bobbed a few more times before Dan's breathing started to get heavier. He knew he was close, so he pulled off. He made his way back up to kiss Dan on the mouth once more and grab the lube from the pillow beside him.

The bottle had not seen much action in the last few months. Still, Phil climbed back down to between Dan's legs, and spread them. He looked down at Dan with a look of lust and love that made him squirm. 

“I love you. You're so amazingly beautiful.” Phil said while opening the lube and pouring a generous amount on his fingers and warming them a little.

“I love you so much.” Dan said back, his voice low from the pleasure.

Phil circled his index finger around Dan's opening and he moaned like never before, pushing his hips down wanting more.

Phil inserted the first finger, he pumped it in and out while laying kisses to Dan's inner thighs. He waited until Dan asked for more to add the second. Dan was rocking his hips into each thrust by the third finger.

“Philip Lester if you don't make love to me soon I swear to god!” Dan said while grabbing Phil by the hair and pulling him foreword. 

Nervously, Phil grabbed the condom. His shaking hands ripped the foil open and slowly rolled it onto his member. He shivered at the contact, he was so caught up in pleasing and preparing Dan he forgot about himself for a moment. 

He added more lube to himself and lined up with Dan. “Are you ready?” He asked. 

Dan rested both hands on Phil's chest, “I've never been more ready in my life.” He whispered back. 

Phil slipped in slowly. Every scared thought in his head was erased and replaced with ones of pleasure as Dan took him in. 

Once he bottomed out he waited for a moment, leaning down to kiss Dan before pulling out and pushing back in. 

“Oh god.” Dan moaned with the first thrust. Running his hands down Phil's arms and interlocking their fingers. 

Phil pinned their hands above Dan's head, laying a kiss to Dan's mouth with each thrust. 

“I” kiss, “love” kiss, “you.” Phil kept kissing him. 

Phil found Dan's prostate and rocked into it, Dan moaned to the point it was a borderline scream. 

He was beautiful beneath Phil. His cheeks became rosy, his hair curled even more than normal and his dimple showed up as he smiled back up at Phil. 

“I love you.” Dan said, kissing him again. 

Phil was close, he felt and all too familiar feeling in his stomach. Dan clenched around him and Phil knew he was close too.

“Oh fuck, I'm close.” Dan announced.

Phil continued to hit his prostate at a steady pace. Dan hit his high with a string of “Phil”s and “I love you”s. 

He came across their stomachs, he became tighter around Phil and it sent him over the edge. He came inside of him, riding out their orgasms, panting and grunting as he did so.

When he was done, he slowly pulled out. Took the condom off, tied it and chucked it in the direction of the bin. It missed but he didn't care. He collapsed into Dan's arms once more. 

Dan kissed his forehead a few times. “Thank you. I love you.” 

“I love you.”


	9. Chapter 9

Phil decided that because Dan was always in his apartment, and because he hated his own tiny one, he should just move in. Together they went up to Dan’s room and got all the essentials before they told the landlord that he was leaving and becoming a tenant in Phil’s place.

In the months they had been together, Phil never saw the inside of Dan’s apartment. It was small. Smaller than Phil's, his bedroom was big enough for a bed, his closet was overflowing with clothes and his kitchen was basically 1 cupboard and an oven. 

“I don't have many things.” Dan said, grabbing a cardboard box he had in the back of his closet. 

“That's okay. What do you want me to get?” Phil said.

“Um, I think I'm going to just bring some clothes and my bear and blankets. I don't really need anything more right now and everything else belongs to the landlord.” He said, turning to pack. “Besides, I have you so what else do I really need?” 

Phil just shook his head. “Stop being cute. I don't think I can love you any more than I already do.”

Dan's box was mostly clothes. Phil cleaned out his master closet to make room for Dan's things. Phil didn't have many clothes, he hasn’t really into being stylish, which meant he had lots of room for Dan. And seeing his eyes light up at all the new space was the highlight of Phil's day.

That night they cuddled. Like they normally did, but it was different. It was calmer, Phil's heart was steady and sure. Dan didn't have to leave the next day, he never had to leave again. 

“I don't think I'll ever be able to say anything other than I love you to you.” Phil said, Dan was spooning him and had his head in the crook of Phil's neck.

He kissed Phil's shoulder, “Good. Cause I never want to stop hearing it.”

-

Work was different. Everyone was checking on them and continuously asking if they were okay. They didn't want to replace their crew. They instead, had agreed to engrave the 4 men's names onto the robot in respect.

Dan was incredibly glad he had 2 copies of Cleora. It turns out the explosion wasn't due to anything with the bot but a failure in the system. A small spark, a shit ton of radiation, and a pressure controlled room don't mix. 

The bot was ready to launch. The directed said they could postpone it until they were ready, but this was Phil's dream and he wanted it to start now. The sooner it launched, the sooner it landed and the sooner all his questions about life outside of what he knew would be answered. 

“We have one week till launch and then 5 years until we actually get any work done.” Dan said, pacing their office. 

It was cute when he was what he called “nervecited”, a perfect combination of excitement and anxiety. It was his personality to a tee.

“Imagine where we'll be with our lives when it lands.” Phil said, getting up to go hug Dan in the middle of the room.

“Hopefully we're still together.”

“Hopefully we're more than just together.” 

-

Phil called his mother to let her and the family know they had a week till the launch. She insisted they all come watch the big day, and Phil couldn't say no. 

Dan was excited to meet Phil's family, he was told that his mother was a bit crazy but also the most loving person in the world. His father was laid back and quiet, but he was so caring and loving it was unreal. His brother Martyn was a jokester, and he told Dan to expect a few jokes directed at him. And then there was Martyn's wife Cornelia. She was one of Martyn’s friends growing up, they were really close and Martyn ended up falling head over heals in love with her. They've been together for years. 

Both Phil's parents and his brother had the best relationships he'd ever seen. He looked up to them and it felt good to finally have someone to show off to them. 

Dan was super excited. He cleaned his and Phil’s place up, added some more homey touches and counted down the days till they got in. He even offered to pick them up from the airport.

“Do you think they’ll like me?” Dan asked during their regular late night cuddle session. 

“No.” Phil replied.

“What?” Dan said in a high pitched voice, making Phil laugh. 

“I think they’ll love you.”

-

They drove to the airport in Dan's little car to pick up Phil's parents, Martyn was coming at a later time due to the fact he has a career and can't drop everything for his brother. But Phil understood that.

Phil's mum turned the corner of the terminal and sprinted to him. Her hugs were his favorite thing growing up, seeing as she was his only real friend and he was, and still is a cuddly person. 

After she let's go she grabs his face. “You look so grown up, where's my baby gone?” Her northern voice stronger than ever.

“Nice to see you too mum.” Phil manages to say while his cheeks are squished. 

Then she saw Dan. She looked at him with the softest face of appreciation Phil had ever seen. Without saying a word she hugs him. 

“Oh,” Dan says accepting the hug and hugging back tightly.

“Thank you for loving my boy.” She says into his ear. 

Phil's dad is standing in the background watching it unfold. He's always been a quiet man in Phil's life, but supportive nonetheless. 

Phil's dad gave him a pat on the shoulder, “He's very handsome. Good job” which made Phil smile.

They've visited Phil when he was in California, but they've never been to Houston. So Dan and Phil decided to take them on a tour of NASA and then to the planetarium. 

Phil's mum stayed with Dan a lot of the time, they walked around and talked and she completely fell in love with him.

While Dan was busy explaining the concept of an old school satellite to Phil's mum, Phil pulled his dad aside. 

“When did you propose to mum?” He asked.

His dad chuckled, “I had a feeling you were ready. All those Skype calls to your mother and I really led me to think you loved him, and that he loved you more than anything.”

“Really?” Phil said in surprise.

“Yes. And if you feel like spending the rest of your life with him will make you happier than you've ever been in your whole life, then I say go for it.” He said before pulling Phil into a hug. 

Phil felt like crying. His family loved Dan. Dan had deserved to have a loving family for so long and he's finally getting one, Phil is so unbelievably happy that the man of his dreams is having his dreams come true and that he was the one to make it happen. 

Martyn and his wife, Cornelia, joined them for dinner once they got in. It was a nice place, not too fancy, but nice enough that they all looked their best. 

They talked about how them met and how they got together. Martyn wasn't surprised when Phil said they went and saw a movie about space for their first date. “You've always been such a dork.” Martyn laughed.

“But I love that he's a dork so its okay.” Dan replied, placing his hand on Phil's and kissing him on the cheek.

Phil turned a bright pink, he's not used to having someone display their affection for him in front of his family. 

“So when's the wedding?” Cornelia joked, taking a bite of her salad.

“We were thinking November.” Dan said back with a straight face, watching as everyone choked. 

“He's kidding we haven't discussed anything.” Phil declared trying to calm everyone down. While thinking ‘well, not yet at least.’

They said their goodbyes and left Phil's family in a hotel down from NASA, saying they'd send a cab to get them for the launch the next day.

At home Dan was nothing but smiles. Going on and on about how much fun he had and how he wished they all lived closer so he could see them more often. They were his family now. 

They got changed and into bed, both lying flat on their backs and staring at the ceiling. Phil interlocked their fingers and stared over at his lover.

“Do you want to get married?” Phil asked.

“I never thought I would but getting married to you is my new dream.” Dan said, turning to look at Phil. 

Phil smiled, “what was your old dream?” 

“To be happy and have a family. And you've already given me those two things.” He said, moving a little close to cuddle.

“Well, how about I give you the new dream too?” Phil whispered into Dan's hair as his head was now on Phil's chest.

“I'd say yes.” He whispered back.

“I guess I'm going to have to get used to calling you my fiance then.”

-

Phil woke up in a panic, he had a terrible dream that the launch went wrong and exploded upon reaching the stratosphere. He was sweaty and hot, shaking and also alone. 

“Dan?” Phil called. No answer. “Dan!” He yelled a little louder. Still no answer. 

Crawling out of his bed, finding his glasses and trying to stay calm he made his way through the apartment.

He wasn't in the bathroom. He wasn't in the lounge or kitchen. What the heck was happening. He peeked his head out the door to see Dan on the phone in the hallway. He was crying.

“I love you too Nan, I have to go. Bye.” Phil heard, Dan still hadn't seen him.

“Is everything okay?” Phil asked.

Dan smiled though his tears. “That was my Nan. She called to say she saw an article about our rocket and was going to tune in tonight.”

“Oh Dan that's amazing.” Phil replied, oddly chipper for just having freaked the fuck out.

“Phil,” Dan started to cry more, “she hasn't talked to me in 4 years, and I told her about us and she was actually okay with it. My family is happy for me. What the fuck is going on?” 

“They've finally come to see the wonderful, loving, kind, beautiful, smart, funny man I love and cherish.” Phil replied before wrapping his arms around Dan.

“I love you so much.” Dan said against Phil's bare chest.

“I love you too.” Phil replied, wondering how many times they were going to say that while hugging in the hallway for anyone to see.

Seeing as they were both up they had a quick shower, got dressed and met up with Louise at work for some breakfast.

“You two seem happier than normal.” She said, taking a bite of her croissant. 

“We kinda sorta might have possibly got engaged yesterday.” Dan replied.

“Shut the fuck up!” She yelled in the middle of the empty Starbucks, but greeting some funny looks from the workers.

“We agreed that getting married was the next best thing for us.” Phil confirmed. 

“I better get an invite.” She replied. 

“I wouldn't have it any other way.” Dan said sarcastically. 

-

The control room was huge. There was a whole wall of monitors, what looked like 200 people in desks with computers and the director standing above everyone watching them get ready.

Phil parents wanted to watch the launch from outside to film the whole thing for their own memories, Cornelia said she might even post it on her YouTube channel.

Dan and Phil on the other hand had front row seats in the launch room. They sat together while everyone got prepared to launch Cleora into space for her 5 year journey.

“Launch will commence in T minus five,” Phil's heart started to race. All his dreams were coming true. 

He thought back to the day he started the proposal, it had been a whole year. When he started it, it was his only dream. He wanted to make it to space and learn the secrets of the universe. 

“four,” 

Then he met Dan. His dreams became more of a reality and his reality became his new dream. Dan Howell changed his life in the best possible way. Together they not only are going to change history but go down in it for being the most successful and love crazy couple NASA had ever seen.

“Three,”

All those years that he spent watching the stars, learning about space and imagining his future paid off. He was the youngest person at NASA to run a mission of this size. Little Philly from Manchester did it.

“Two,” 

He cried. Not like a little tear that fell from him being happy, more like the weeping tears he let out when he realised he wanted to love Dan for the rest of his life. He was so proud of himself. He wanted to go back to 4 year old Phil to made a wish on a star and tell him about all this. 

“One,” 

He wanted to grab the past him and tell him that all the years of sadness and wondering would pay off. That one day he would meet a boy just as equally smart and lonely as he was and they would fall in love. That even though he was sad now, the happiness and love he would feel later in life made the sadness worth it. That the only reason he was so sad as a child was because it would be unfair to feel this happy for his whole life. That this Dan guy would change his whole perspective of dreams, of life, and of love. That his whole life would someday make sense and it was all thanks to a beautiful, smart, kind, soft, wonderful man named Daniel James Howell, whom he'd get to spend the rest of his life with.

“One. Houston, we have lift off.”

Everyone sat anxiously as the rocket was slowly launched into the air. It went higher and higher, soaring through the 4 layers of atmosphere and finally making it to space. 

Papers were thrown into the air, loud cheers escaped everyone's mouths and Phil couldn't believe it. 

“Congratulations Dr. Lester.” Dan said before pulling him into a kiss. Letting go of his face, “how does it feel to have your dreams come true?” He asked.

“Almost as good as falling in love.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the last chapter will be up in a couple of days, thanks for all the love on this story so far, it means a lot to me <3


	10. 5 years later

“Vega, leave Juno alone and put your shoes on please.” Dan said to the two year old as he picked up their dog to place him in his crate. 

Like the good child she is,Vega got up and ran to her other daddy, shoes in her hands asking him for help. 

“Papa, what are we doing today?” she asked Phil, sitting down on the steps in their lounge while he slipped her shoes on. 

“Your daddy and I made a robot five years ago and it’s landing on a moon today.” he explained in a very soft voice. 

He couldn’t believe it had been 5 years. It felt like just yesterday he was creating a proposal for a mission. But somehow he was now happily married to the man of his dreams, the proud father of a corgi and a beautiful 2 year old, the owner of a 4 bedroom home in Houston, Texas, and soon the person who found life outside of Earth. 

After the launch all those years ago they had a small wedding. It was everything they wanted. They had all their family, even Dan’s, come down to Texas for it. It was beautiful, minimalistic and all they ever dreamed of.

Then they moved. They had saved enough money from work that they were able to get a home. They considered getting a small bungalow, but Phil knew he’d want children one day, and children required a big home so they splurged. 

A few months went by and all they did was work and sleep. Yes his robot was making its way to Europa, but he still had to work while she traveled. He joined other teams, gave opinions, worked alongside the director and actually got promoted to Chief Scientist. 

Dan also got promoted. He was now Chief Engineer. Everyone came to him for advice, he approved proposals, gave okays on bots, supervised the labs, and was literally having the time of his life. At work at least.

He was bored. Life was the same old same old for most of the year. He needed a change, so he went and adopted a dog. He knew Phil loved corgis so it was really a no brainer when he saw a new litter of corgi puppies at their local pet shop. 

Phil cried when he saw him. He was so happy, they were like a little family. They named him Juno, because they are huge dorks. Life with a dog was simple, nothing changed really. They took him for walks, he slept in their bed, and he was like their child. Until Phil asked if they could have a baby.

It didn’t take Dan much convincing, they had plenty of late night chats of what it would be like to one day be parents. Phil had said he wanted to be a dad before 30, which meant he only had a few months left to meet that goal. 

Being high up at NASA it wasn't hard for them to get approved at a surrogacy agency and pick a nice lady to help them. They tried their best to find a woman like one of them so that the baby would look similar to the both of them. They found a lady with brown eyes and curly hair and it was close enough to Dan that they chose her. 

They’re little girl was born on October 19th, she was 8 lbs 14 ounces. Quite the little chunker, as Dan called her. She had wispy little brown hairs and beautiful blue eyes. She was everything to them. They named her Vega, after the 5th brightest star in the night sky. Even though she would always be the brightest one in their lives. 

They covered her room in glow in the dark stars, and every night they read her books about space, astronauts and all the mysteries outside of their world. They were always talking to her, showing her things, and making sure she would one day to have a love for science and space like they did without pushing it too hard. 

Her first word was light, she pointed up to the star she was named after and said it. Phil’s first word was light as well, used in the same exact way. He couldn’t believe that he had a little girl as wonderful and magical as her in his life. 

She was Phil through and through. Her eyes were big and blue, they shined so bright when she was intrigued. Her face and arms were riddled with freckles, her laugh was light and full of joy. And her heart was big and wonderful. She was their most prized creation. And today they were going to share another creation of theirs with her. 

She was so used to being at NASA. Phil brought her in all the time to do work, she was a very quiet baby and an even better toddler. She liked to look around and listen in on all the interesting things that were happening. Phil believes that hearing everyone talk around her all those days is what made her have a full vocabulary at age two. 

Dan had dressed her up today in a cute dress and leggings that looked the night sky, and covered in sparkling gems to represent the stars. All her clothes were some what space related, they couldn't help it. Once her shoes were on they got her into her car seat and left for work.

Dan drove, like always. One hand on the wheel and the other holding Phil’s hand. They’ve done it for years now but it still always managed to make Phil’s heart race. That man he fell in love with will always make his heart race. 

At red lights Dan would reach over and kiss him on the cheek, and he’d still blush like the first time it happened. Still hopelessly, madly in love. 

“Are you excited?” Dan asked.

“More nervous than anything. I really hope we find something.” Phil said, squeezing Dan’s hand and shooting him a nervous half grin.

Once they got to mission control, Phil helped Vega out of the car, kept her in his arms, took Dan's hand as well as a deep breath, and they made their way into the building.

Stopping at the front desk so Vega could say hi to Cara and get a sucker, then passing Louise's office and saying hi to her, walking past the director's office and once again stopping to say hi. Vega was loved by everyone at NASA. 

The control room was huge. The monitors were on standby and Cleora was ready to exit her pod and embark on her mission. Everyone took their seats, Phil was extremely anxious.

“We're going live in five.” the head of command exclaimed. 

Dan as sitting at one of the many command desks, applying the latest system updates to the satellites surround Jupiter to insure a crisper picture.

Vega sat on Phil's lap. She was amazed by all the lights and screens. Her beautiful light blue eyes lit up when the monitors switched to the surface of Europa. 

Phil's did too. He'd been dreaming of the moon since he was her age. And today, he’s getting a first hand look at it. 

Cleora starts to move. Her legs are steady on the surface, the camera wobbles with the movement, but it's still a clear picture. The surface is beautiful. White ice with copper lines running through it.

After wandering for a 100 meters, they stop. It's time to drill down and see what's going on under the surface. They are still unaware of how deep the dig will be, but prepared to wait hours if need be. 

She digs for 2 hours and 16 minutes. Vega got bored watching the digging and hearing the grinding of ice, so Louise took her to go play. Dan and Phil sat anxiously and watched as she finally hit water.

Clear blue water. 

They turned on Cleora’s external flashlight to see a wider range of areas. It was like being in earth's oceans, flowing water, air bubbles, and to everyone's surprise, there was seaweed and plants of all kinds growing under the water.

“Phil. You fucking did it.” Dan said, turning to look at him, “I always knew you would but holy shit you fucking did it!”

“I did it.” Was all Phil could say. He was shocked. He never thought he'd find plants on another planet. 

“Look at this!” Someone at command yelled.

They zoomed in, and in a little more. Plankton. Organisms. Life outside Earth. 

“Holy fuck.” Phil whispered, throwing his hands over his mouth in shock. 

The took 18 samples, leaving enough room to bring a few plants back. They figured with shutting down the not on the way back it would be cold enough that it could freeze, and keep the plants in good shape. 

Cleora swam back to the surface of the water and climbed aboard her pod. Phil said goodbye to the moon he waited so long to see, and home she came. 

“Can you believe that May 7th, 2020 is the day Doctor Phil Lester changed history.” Dan said, laying a kiss to Phil's cheek. “My husband changed the world.” 

“We did it together. Just like how we do everything else.” Phil smiled.

-

NASA had to release the news of Dr. Lester's findings to the public within 24 hours. Which meant they had a few hours to go home, process what happened, sleep, and get ready to talk about it the next day.

Louise scheduled him in for a press conference alongside Dan, PJ, the director and some of the other crucial people from the mission. They sat at a long table facing an audience of people with cameras, voice recorders and notepads. 

“Sara Alto, CNN.” A petite blond lady said, standing up, “My question is for Doctor Lester, um, what exactly were you hoping to find on Jupiter’s moon?”

Phil licked his lips and thought for a second. “I wasn’t really looking for anything in particular. Everyone here will tell you the same thing. We don't go to space to find nothing, we go to find something. Whether that's a new planet, a better understanding of the universe, or in my case, plants and plankton on an ice covered moon. We set out for the adventure and the hopes that something new will be out there, not really expecting much so that we come home with more than we thought.”

Everyone in the room clapped at Phil’s response which made him smile. 

“Tyler Oakley, New York Times.” A man with glasses and a bubbly attitude stood up, “what do you plan on doing with the samples when they come back?”

“We plan on analyzing them, making sure they are like the organisms from Earth.” The director confirmed. 

-

“Papa,” Vega said climbing into her bed with her favorite book. Dan and Phil tucking her in and sitting on the bed beside her. “Can I go to space one day?”

“You can do whatever you put your heart into. And your daddy and I will be there to help you.” Phil said, Dan ran a hand up and down his back. 

“I love you daddy and papa.” she said, closing her eyes and drifting off to sleep. 

They both laid a kiss to her cheeks, and closed her door softly as they left. Normally after she went to bed they would to, but they were too excited from the day's endeavors. 

They sat in their huge living room, looking out their floor to ceiling windows at the stars. All the lights in the house off so they could accurately enjoy the ambiance of the stars and each other. 

Phil placed his head on Dan’s chest and they sunk down the couch a little. His heartbeat was its regular speed, Phil had gotten used to the soothing beat over the last 6 years. 

“You know, what we found yesterday wasn't even close to being the best thing in my life.” Phil said.

“You're a sap Phil.” Dan said with a laugh, making Phil rise and fall with his chest movements.

“It's true. Finding you was the best thing that's ever happened in my life.” He blushed and hid his face in Dan's chest.

“I love you Phil.” 

“I love you too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it over!! oh gosh i am so proud of this and i am so glad everyone liked it!!! i am working on doing a fic for the phandom big bang, so i'm not sure how much i'll be writing on the side, thanks for reading and i hope to see you guys in the comments of fics to come!! <3


	11. 2022

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So my biggest fan(and best friend) Lindsey and I were discussing what happens after chapter 10 and I was so happy with what we came up with that I had to write another chapter. Hope you like it :)

Ever since he was a boy, Phil had loved space. Ever since he was a man, he’d been in love with both space and a man called Daniel Howell. Now, at the age of 35, Phil Lester has three more loves of his life. Vega, Theo, and Chloe. 

Theo and Chloe are the newest additions to the Howell-Lester family. Twins, born on May 9th 2022. They had Dan's genetics, which meant they were blessed with beautiful curly brown hair, auburn eyes and their skin was a light tan color that was riddled with freckles. Dan and Phil, and big sister Vega, loved them with their whole hearts. 

When Dan and Phil first decided to have another baby, they told Vega all about it. They had explained to her in a way that her little 4 year-old brain could understand. That they were going to have a baby, but they needed help from a nice lady who also helped them have her. That way they would be half siblings. They did what they had to do and a few weeks later, a baby was on the way. 

To their surprise, it wasn’t just one baby, but two. They cried at the ultrasound in which they first heard the two heart beats. Vega sat on Phil’s lap and wondered why her fathers were crying, almost getting upset herself before reaching up and laying a hand on the woman’s belly. 

“Is the baby okay daddy?” She asked.

“More than okay honey, there are two babies in there. You’re going to be a big sister to two babies!” Dan cheered.

Vega was so excited she hugged the woman’s belly, everyone cried. The doctor printed out some photos of the two little blobs that were their new children and gave them some time. They were more than excited to have two babies, one was a blessing but two was something they never dreamed of. Dan had always said any baby given to them was a gift, and now they had 3 in total. 

The day they found out they would be having one of each was a day they will never forget. Phil always wanted Dan to have a biological little girl. He always thought her hair would have the most pretty little ringlets, her eyes would be big and brown and sparkle when she was excited, and that she would be the kindest and most amazing creature the world had ever seen, just like her father. They named her Chloe, a name fit for the beauty she would be.

A little boy with Dan’s genetics though, that was something Phil was worried about. He was going to be a show stopper. If Dan was so breathtakingly beautiful, what would another person like him be life? They named him Theo, as it means god given, and what a gift from god he would be. 

Life changed slightly with two babies. Vega was easy to adjust to, but she was one baby who also loved to sleep and wasn’t very fussy. Chloe and Theo on the other hand, they took some getting used to. Chloe loved to stay up all night, and sleep all day. Theo was the opposite, the only struggle with him was that he was fussy and agitated very easily. 

It helped to have Vega with them this time around, she helped change diapers and gave bottles and she loved reading them all her space books. She was the best big sister. 

By the time the twins were 4 months old Dan and Phil had figured out how to deal with it. Life went back to normal. Well, somewhat normal. Dan became a permanent stay at home dad and Phil went back to work, Vega started school shortly after and they worked like a perfect family. 

-

Now that Dan was staying home all the time with his children he had more time to do things for Phil. He no longer worked different hours than his lover and he was no longer too tired to do anything. Phil got home every night around 6 pm, unless something was happening, so Dan always had dinner waiting and the twins in bed and Vega waited for her Papa to come read her a story. 

Once all the kids were asleep, they had alone time. It was like they were young and in love again. They watched the stars, they cuddled, and they were finally having sex regularly again. Phil loved his kids, he really did, but sometimes it made finding time to make love to his husband very difficult.

“So I was thinking,” Dan started.

“That can’t be good.” Phil joked.

“Shut up!” he said, smacking Phil who was lying next to him. “Your birthday is coming up and I’d like to take you and the kids to the planetarium like I did before.”

“Vega would love that!” Phil cheered, sitting up right, scaring Juno who was at the end of their bed. “But aren’t the twins too little to be going out on a day trip with us?” 

“They’re closed on Sundays, which is the day your birthday is on so we can go in like we did before. It’s easier for the kids and I think the twins will be fine in a stroller and I can bring the Ergo’s to carry them if need be and-” Dan was cut off my Phil’s lips being pressed to his. 

“Sounds like a lovely idea.” He whispered, and resumed kissing his lovely husband.

They stayed in bed, making out for what felt like hours but were rudely interrupted by the sound of little feet running into their room. It was 8 am, a little later than when they were normally interrupted, but they were interrupted nonetheless. 

Vega came running in with her 2 favorite space books, and her astronaut Barbie. “Good morning sweetheart.” Dan said as she climbed onto the bed.

“Morning daddy and papa.” She said before climbing under the covers in the middle of the two of them. “Can you read this to me again?” she asked, handing them ‘Finding Wonders: Three girls who changed science.’ It was her favorite book of all time. Alongside it was ‘To the Stars: The first American woman to walk in space.”

She was only 5, but every day she mentioned that she was going to go to space one day. That her daddy would help her make her space ship and her papa would be in the control room during lift off. She wasn’t wrong, that’s what would happen the day she went to space. It was a scary thought for Phil to think of his baby girl one day going to space, but he wanted to help her dreams come true.

The three of them stayed in bed reading for a few minutes till 2 cries came barreling down the baby monitor on Dan’s dresser. “I got it.” Dan said, getting up and putting tack pants on before collecting his other two children. 

“Want to help me make pancakes? I can make them look like stars and moons again?” Phil said to Vega, who was ready and willing to help at the word pancakes, she loved them just like her father. 

In the kitchen, Phil sat Vega on the breakfast bar, telling her to be careful and handing her a bowl. He then grabbed all the ingredients he needed for pancakes and set them beside her. Dan walked in with a baby on each hip, setting them in high chairs one at a time. Somehow they blinked and became a family of 5, but they loved every second of it. 

They all sat around the breakfast bar, Dan put on some happy kid friendly music. It was mainly All-Star and some other favorites of his. Vega tried to sing along while the twins just danced in their highchairs, Juno was even running around to the music. Dan and Phil couldn’t be happier with the little world they managed to create.

-

Phil was awoken on his birthday to possibly the best morning sex he’d had since the first time they did it. Dan woke him up early so they had enough time to do what they wanted before the kids woke up. They took their time, having had locked the door so no one ran in and the monitors were still on so they were aware of what was happening in the house while they did it.

It went smoothly, they were done and about to shower when Chloe woke up. Dan took the first shower while Phil went to sit with his little girl. She was hungry, so he got her a bottle and sat with her in the rocking chair in her room. 

Vega was a cuddler, she always had been, so Phil was used to getting cuddles from her while the twins were 7 months old and already leaving the being held stage of life. Chloe only wanted to be held and cuddled if she was sick, tired or hungry. So Phil took advantage of it while he could. 

He could never understand why his mother and other woman all loved to smell babies heads, but when he became a dad he realized the amazing smell they had. They smelled like home, and fresh sheets and happiness. It was the smell of his baby's’ head, someone who he helped bring into the world, and that was so special to him. 

Chloe was a lot like Dan already. She had a hasty personality that he loves, she was a joker and she also had this one curl on the top of her head that was so curly just like his. He couldn’t help looking down at the masterpiece that she was and admire everything about her. He was so enthralled by her being that he never realized Dan was standing in the doorway looking at them. 

“Seeing you with babies makes me want to have 8 more with you.” Dan said. 

“Seeing the babies we made makes me want to have 8 more with you.” Phil said.

“Go have your shower, I’ve got this.” Dan reached out for his little girl, Phil passed her over. 

-

When Phil got out of the shower, put his clothes on and walked into the lounge to be greeted by his lovely family in front of a ‘happy birthday papa’ sign, presents and a pancake birthday cake. They all yelled happy birthday at him, Dan and Vega even shot off party poppers. 

Phil smiled and shook his head. Somehow this was his life. Somehow he was a dad of three and married to the softest and kindest man in the whole world. He doesn’t even remember what it was like to not be happy or to wonder when he’d get a happy ending like this, he’s been so overcome by happiness and he never wants it to go away. 

“Here papa we got this for you.” Vega said, handing his a piece of paper. 

He unfolded it and there was a clue written on it. “We love all the things you do, and boy do we have a surprise for you, go to the place you once thought you saw a Pheasant to get your first present.” Phil read out loud. “The garden!” He yelled, running to the sliding door in the kitchen and making his way around the deck to the garden.

He turned the corner to see his parents, brother, Cornelia and his niece. “SURPRISE!” they all yelled at him, he was so startled by them he almost slipped and fell off the deck.

When he regained his balance and was able to close his mouth from the shock he ran to give his mum a hug. “What are you doing here?” he asked mid embrace. 

“It’s my little boys thirty-fifth birthday, do you really think I would miss it?” She laughed. “Also I haven’t met the twins in person yet so.” She let go of him and went to meet Dan at the door with the kids. 

“Say hi nanny,” Dan said, Passing Theo to his mother in law.

“Aunt Neli!” Vega yelled, Zooming past everyone and jumping into a heavily pregnant Cornelia’s arms.

 

“Sure, no hellos for me.” Martyn joked, moving into give them both a hug.

“Hi uncle Mook.” She calls him Mooken just like Phil did as a child. 

Layla, Martyn's daughter, goes to say hi to Dan and the babies, Phil’s Father is shown all over the house by Vega, and Phil and Martyn chat in the living room. It was so nice for him to have his whole family in his home. 

His mother sat on the couch beside him holding her two little grandchildren in her arms, “My children make the most beautiful babies.” She said, snuggling into Chloe.

“So when are you due?” Dan asked Cornelia.

“March 6th. But I feel like she’s going to come early. She’s already very low.” Cornelia said, rubbing her belly. 

“Vega was like that. Do you guys have a name picked?” Phil chimed in.

“We like the name May, is it okay if we use it? It being Vega’s middle name and all.” Martyn asked.

“Of course! Vega would love that.”

-

After a few hours of talking and sharing presents, the Lester's all got ready to take a trip to the planetarium. Dan upgraded from his small Ford Focus to a SUV when they had the twins, for the extra space and because there was a part of him that wanted to be a soccer mom one day.

 

Vega sat in her car seat in the middle of the twins, she was there to make sure they had their toys and their paci’s, and she also loved acting like a big girl and watching them for her dad’s. Phil could see the kids reflections on their mirrors from his mirror, and he smiled. He set his hand down by the gear shifter, Dan took it in his and he smiled wider. This was his life.

The same guy who let them into the planetarium all those years ago let them into it again this time. “Thanks Chris.” Dan said, giving him a pat on the shoulder. 

“Any time man. What a lovely little family you’ve made.” He smiled at all the Lester's and their children running into the place. 

“Now, ask before you touch and please stay close.” Catherine said to Layla and Vega before the two girls ran off hand in hand to look at everything.

Dan pushed a stroller with Chloe in it around, looking at all the displays again. Phil had Theo in the carrier on his chest, He fell asleep in the car and rather than wake him up Phil said he could sleep on him while they looked around. 

It had been 7 years since the last time Phil was on a triple date with his parents and his brother, in this very planetarium. Since then a lot had changed. He’d gotten married, his brother had a baby, he had a baby, he found life on another planet, was promoted to being the director of NASA, and had another two children. It was crazy to think that once there was only the 6 of them walking around this place but now there were 4 more life’s joining them and a 5th on the way.

“Remember when we first came here? Look how much has changed.” He didn’t mean the exhibits that were new or the wall all about our mission with a model of Cleora, no, he meant the difference between being scared shitless that they were on a date compared to being happily married with 3 children. 

 

“I know, it’s crazy.” Dan agreed. “What’s crazier is that I already knew I loved you at that date.”

Phil snuggled into Dan’s arm that he was already holding onto as they walked. “I did too. I’ve always loved you.”

“I’ve always loved you too.” 

They stopped to look at a poster on the wall of a human heart in the middle of space, being orbited by small rocks and moons and stars. “This is me.” he said, Pointing at the heart. “And this is you.” He pointed at a big moon circling the heart. “And these are the kids.” He pointed at 3 smaller moons.

“You orbit my my heart.” Phil said, Kissing Dan on the cheek.


End file.
